ANDERSON, Ind. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology moved within one game of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball lead with a 78-64 road win at Anderson University on Wednesday night.
Craig McGee narrowly missed a triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to pace three players in double figures. Jacob Back scored a career-high 16 points with six rebounds, and Michael Lake added a double-figure scoring night with 15 points on 4-6 from three-point range.
Malik Laffoon led a balanced Anderson scoring attack with 11 points. Rose-Hulman shot 52% from the field for the game and outrebounded Anderson 40-21 to pick up the road victory.
The Fightin' Engineers jumped out to a 36-30 lead at the half with five straight points from Lake and a free throw by Back to end the first half. Rose-Hulman pushed the lead to 13 points at 53-40 midway through the second half on a three-pointer by Max Chaplin.
Anderson trimmed the deficit to seven points at 53-46, but three trifectas from Lake in a four-minute span helped the Fightin' Engineers regain a 14-point lead at 66-52 and secure their fourth straight victory.
Other key contributors for Rose-Hulman included Eli Combs and John Czarnecki with seven points each; Terry Hicks with six points; and Vuk Djuric with four points.
Rose-Hulman improved to 11-9 overall and 8-5 in league play with the win. HCAC tri-leaders Hanover, Franklin and Transylvania are all 9-4 in conference play, and Rose-Hulman is along just one game behind the trio at 8-5 in league games. The Fightin' Engineers travel to Transylvania for another key HCAC matchup on Saturday at 3 pm.
