NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Southern Vermont College outscored the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute men's basketball team by three points in the second half of Saturday's Tri-state Shootout Tournament consolation game at Mass. College of Liberal Arts, but it was not enough to overcome the lead that the Engineers built up through the opening 20 minutes as they defeated SVC 75-67.
RPI's lead was increased to 14 throughout the second half, but the Mountaineers' three-point shooting and missed opportunities from the free throw line by Rensselaer allowed SVC to cut it down to three late in regulation. Time would run out on the Southern Vermont comeback, however, as the Engineers were able to hit enough of their freebies in the waning seconds to finish off the victory.
The Mountaineers (2-8) are now off for the winter break, resuming the season on Saturday, January 7 when they head to Fitchburg State University for a 1 p.m. non-conference start-- that being SVC's final non-league game of the year.
Southern Vermont senior Rayshawn Taylor (Silver Spring, Md.) continued his stellar scoring week, reaching the 20-point plateau for the third-straight game as he notched a team-best 28 to go along with his five rebounds; he was named to the Shootout's All-Tournament Team for his performance over the weekend.
Classmate Nate Goldsmith (Capitol Heights, Md.) followed with 19 points and a team-best eight boards while fellow senior Davante Jordan (Great Mills, Md.) had 13 points, four assists and three steals in the effort. Sophomore Malik Green (Miami, Fla.) registered seven points and seven rebounds for SVC.
RPI went 25-for-58 (43.1 percent) from the floor while the Mountaineers connected on 36.8 percent (21.57) of their field goal attempts. Each team knocked down 10 triples and 15 free throws, although the Engineers were afforded seven more opportunities from the line throughout the game. Rensselaer pulled down a 44-36 advantage on the glass, but SVC utilized RPI's mishaps to tally a 17-15 edge in points off turnovers. The game was controlled by the starting five of each team as the Engineers outscored SVC just 5-0 in points from the bench.
Neither side registered consecutive field goals through the opening 6:30 of action as the Mountaineers kept pace with RPI and answered on each of the Engineers' scores. Taylor spotted up and had a smooth follow through to drain a three from the right edge of the arc to make it 5-5, but Rensselaer dropped a trey of its own with 12:54 left in the half to go ahead 15-9. That was part of an 11-0 RPI run, however the cushion gained from that spurt would be cut down as Southern Vermont responded off a timeout.
Jordan, Taylor and Goldsmith each knocked one down from behind the perimeter on three-straight SVC possessions, and Jordan would go 1-for-2 from the line to make it just a 20-19 Engineer edge. Rensselaer once again started to pull away down the stretch of the period, going on a 12-3 run to regain some separation with a three-pointer and a pair of backdoor cut passes. Another RPI triple with 1:51 on the clock helped the Engineers go into the locker room with a 37-26 lead after Jordan hit a jumper with 31 ticks left.
Rensselaer's lead would grow to as many as 14 early into the second stanza, but the Mountaineers were able to cut their deficit in half through the 12:00 mark. Green notched five unanswered of his own, completing and old-fashioned three-point play to make it a 47-40 ballgame with 12:16 left to go. RPI pushed it back to double digits with seven-straight points behind another three-pointer, but Goldsmith answered with a downtown bucket of his own on the next trip down the floor.
Goldsmith would connect on another pair of treys through the next three minutes, sandwiching two free throws by Jordan to make it a 60-51 RPI advantage. Taylor then dropped seven-straight points to trim the Engineers' lead even further, his last three coming when he stepped back behind the arc in the left corner and dropped home a triple. A Jordan free throw capped the 7-0 SVC spurt which cut it to a 62-59 RPI upper hand, but Rensselaer extended its separation once again with seven unanswered of its own.
Forced to foul, Southern Vermont nearly got back in it during the final 30 seconds. A missed RPI three-pointer allowed Taylor to drill one from the right edge at the other end, and the Engineers went just 1-for-2 from the free throw line on a pair of occasions to keep SVC's hopes alive. Goldsmith pulled up and swished home a trey from seven feet behind the right edge of the perimeter, but RPI would then go 4-for-4 from the charity stripe in the closing six seconds to put it away.
– #LetsGoSVC –