HANOVER, Ind. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology withstood a strong second half rally by Hanover College to pick up a 71-67 men's basketball victory on the road on Thursday night.

The Fightin' Engineers built a 21-point lead at 55-34 with 14:15 remaining in the contest.  Hanover chipped away to close within 67-65 with 21 seconds remaining.

Rose-Hulman entrusted Dillon Duff with two key free throws on the next possession, and the freshman buried both to give the Fightin' Engineers a 69-65 lead with 16 seconds left.

Hanover drew a quick foul on the next possession and Isaac Hibbard hit two free throws to bring the Panthers deficit down to 69-67 at the 11-second mark.  The Fightin' Engineers missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and Hanover had a chance to either tie or go for the win on its next possession.  Hibbard drove to the basket, but Rose-Hulman senior Jacob Back took a key charge to force a Hanover turnover and give the ball back to Rose-Hulman with just three seconds remaining.

Rose-Hulman turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds pass, however, and the Panthers went for a 3-point shot and the victory in the final second.  A foul was called on the shot, and Hanover was awarded three free throws with 0.5 seconds left trailing 69-67.  The Panthers missed the first two free throws, and Terry Hicks secured the rebound on the third shot for Rose-Hulman.  Hicks hit two free throws with 0.2 seconds left to secure the final margin of Fightin' Engineer victory.

Duff led a balanced scoring attack with 15 points.  Samvit Ram added a career-high 11 points, and Hicks recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.  Craig McGee added a well-round eight points, 10 rebounds and six assists to the effort.  Trey Wurtz joined McGee with eight points, and Jackson Kabrick added six points.

Ty Houston paced Hanover with 18 points and Mark Albers scored 17 for the Panthers.  Isaac Hibbard tallied 16 points, and Max Greenamoyer rounded out the Panther double figure scorers with 12 points.

Rose-Hulman led 39-26 at the half and relied on a 16-8 run to open the second half to build its 21-point second half lead.  The Fightin' Engineers had to withstand the rally, highlighted by 4-5 on the free throw line in the final 16 seconds, to secure the win.

The two teams are both 2-1 on the season and are scheduled to meet in a rematch on Saturday at 1 pm at Hulbert Arena.  Hanover won the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championships, while Rose-Hulman qualified for the 2018 and 2020 HCAC Tournament Championship Games.