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TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology rallied from an 8-point halftime deficit to pick up a 65-62 men's basketball victory over Franklin College in the 2020-21 season opener at Hulbert Arena on Thursday night.

Franklin led 38-30 at the half, before Rose-Hulman opened the second half on a 9-0 run to take a 39-38 advantage on a layup by Zach Callahan with 15:59 left in the contest.  The margin stayed within one possession for the next eight minutes, before a 3-pointer by Dillon Duff put Rose-Hulman up 54-49 with 7:52 remaining.

Franklin closed within 62-60, before a layup and one free throw from Duff gave the Fightin' Engineers a 5-point lead at 65-60 with 1:50 left.  Sam Gutierrez scored on the next possession for Franklin, closing the margin to 65-62 at the 1:35 mark.

Rose-Hulman had a chance to extend the lead, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 18 seconds left.  Franklin called timeout to set up a potential game tying possession, but a Gutierrez 3-pointer hit the front of the room in the waning seconds as the Fightin' Engineers secured the win.

Duff led four Rose-Hulman players in double figures with 18 points.  Craig McGee added 12 points, six rebounds and a team-high five assists.  Jacob Back was also in double figures with 11 points.

Zach Callahan grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds, including securing the final rebound on Gutierrez's potential game tying shot at the end of the contest.  Samvit Ram added seven points, and Trey Wurtz joined Jackson Kabrick with five points each.

Gutierrez led the Franklin offense with 19 points.  Payton Mills added 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Ismail Jones reached double figures with 11 points.

Rose-Hulman committed just seven turnovers and foreced 15 turnovers as a key difference in the 3-point win.  The two teams will meet once again on Saturday afternoon at approximately 3 pm at Franklin.