TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology placed four players in double figures and rallied from an eight-point second half deficit to defeat Manchester University 77-72 at Hulbert Arena on Saturday.
Junior Luke Callahan led the balanced scoring attack with 19 points and eight rebounds, shooting 6-8 from the field and 7-9 on the free throw line. Freshman Craig McGee added 16 points, three rebounds and four assists.
Other double-figure scorers for the Fightin' Engineers included Ryuji Aoki with 14 points on 9-10 from the free throw line; and Nick McGrail with 11 points and two three-pointers. John Czarnecki added eight points off the bench for Rose-Hulman.
Adrian Johnson was the lone double figure scorer for Manchester with 22 points. Rose-Hulman relied on aggressive attacking of the basket to finish 26-34 from the free throw, compared to 11-14 for the visiting Spartans.
Manchester led 37-33 at the half, despite a 56% shooting performance from the Engineers in the opening 20 minutes. Aoki led Rose-Hulman with 11 points in the opening half.
Manchester held a 51-43 lead with 12:02 remaining on a three-pointer by Matthew Westman. The Fightin' Engineers answered with nine straight points, included four by Michael Lake and a three-pointer by McGrail that put Rose-Hulman ahead 52-51 with 8:48 remaining.
Manchester battled back to tie the score at 57-57 and 59-59, before three-pointers from McGrail and McGee gave Rose-Hulman a 65-59 lead with 2:16 left. Manchester closed to within five points at 70-65 with 40 seconds left, but Rose-Hulman nailed 7-8 free throws in the final minute to secure the victory.
Rose-Hulman improved to 3-6 overall and 3-1 in HCAC play, while Manchester dropped to 1-8 and 0-4 in conference play. The Fightin' Engineers travel to Boyce College in Louisville on Monday night for a non-conference contest.
