TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology placed three players in double figures and had 21 assists on 29 field goals to top Manchester University 74-57 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon.
Senior Julian Strickland (Indianapolis/Pike) led the Fightin' Engineers with a well-rounded performance of 17 points, seven rebounds and a career-high tying seven assists.
Junior Michael Hallstein (Minier, Ill./Olympia) added 13 points off the bench for his second double-figure scoring game of the season. Sophomore Jimmy Miller (Indianapolis/North Central) also reached double figures for the fourth straight game with 10 points.
Other key contributors for Rose-Hulman included senior James Pillischafske (Louisville, Ky./Male) with nine points on a trio of three-pointers; and starters Tyler Duffy (Fishers/Hamilton Southeastern), Alec Houpt (Chesterton) and Jordy Martin (New Albany) with six points each.
Brady Dolezal led two Manchester players in double figures with 15 points. Chase Casteel came off the bench for 14 points for the Spartans.
Rose-Hulman jumped out to an early 11-4 lead after a Strickland basket at the 14:12 mark. The margin reached 13 points at 18-5 on a three-pointer by Hallstein with 8:34 left in the first half.
Manchester trimmed the deficit to 18-11, before Rose-Hulman outscored the Spartans 15-4 over the last six minutes of the first half. The Engineers led 33-15 at the break after holding Manchester to 4-15 shooting (27%) in the first 20 minutes.
In the second half, Rose-Hulman continued the strong run to push the advantage to 46-24 with 15:06 left. Duffy buried a three-pointer and Strickland hit two more free throws to cap the run. Manchester could not trim the margin below 15 points the rest of the way.
Rose-Hulman improved to 6-3 overall and 2-1 in HCAC play, while Manchester dropped to 1-9 and 0-3 in league games. The Fightin' Engineers host John Carroll University in the final non-conference game of the season next Saturday at Hulbert Arena.
