TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Fightin' Engineers faced their second top ten opponent on the season as they went up against the #4 WashU Bears. Rose-Hulman battled the Bears to a very evenly matched game, but WashU was able to pull away with an 87-74 win.
 
Rose-Hulman got off to a hot start as they took an early 11-5 lead. The team hit three straight three-pointers as Cole Pride scored the opening three before Joey Schmitz converted consecutive shots from beyond the arc.
 
A steal from Schmitz led to a Daniel Savovic layup, and Jack Murphy added a basket in the paint to extend the lead to three. Following a pair of WashU baskets, Will McElheney tied the game on a pair of free throws, and he gave Rose-Hulman a 17-15 lead after scoring on a layup.
 
The game would remain very evenly matched as neither team was able to stretch their lead to more than two points across nine minutes of action.
 
Christian Torres drew a foul at the eight-minute mark, and he stepped up to the line and swished both of his free throws. Schmitz added his third three-pointer on the following possession, which put Rose-Hulman back in the lead by a score of 28-27.
 
The Fightin' Engineers continued to stay hot from beyond the arc as Savovic swished a top-of-the-key three-pointer following an offensive rebound from Schmitz. Pride knocked down a three-pointer two possessions later as RHIT was able to take a 34-32 lead.
 
The Bears jumped back into the lead on a fastbreak layup, and they were able to extend the lead to four on a pair of free throws and consecutive layups. Schmitz scored the final basket of the half with 36 seconds remaining, where the Fightin' Engineers concluded the period down 44-40.
 
Both teams shot 50.0% from beyond the arc in the first half, as WashU shot 4-8 and the Fightin' Engineers shot 6-12 while going a perfect 6-6 at the free throw line.
 
Pride scored on another three-pointer to lead off the second half, and a layup from Torres cut the deficit to four. Following Torres' basket, the Bears went on an 18-3 run, where they were able to extend their lead to 67-48 on very efficient shooting.
 
Schmitz scored on a layup halfway through the second half, and the Fightin' Engineers' defense forced a shot clock violation, which led to a three-point bucket from Schmitz.
 
Savovic would later score on a floater, and The Bears would respond by scoring on three straight possessions. Savovic added another basket on a layup, and Torres scored a mid-range jumper to make it an 80-59 game.
 
Pride scored on a three from the top of the key, and Schmitz forced a steal on the following possession, which he took coast-to-coast for a layup. Nate Smith added a layup following a forced turnover, which capped off a 7-0 run in less than a minute for the Fightin' Engineers.
 
Smith continued to thrive as he swished a three-pointer, and Schmitz recorded another steal off the full-court press, where he scored on an and-one layup to make it an 85-72 game.
 
Rose-Hulman's press forced another two turnovers, but their comeback effort fell short as the Bears won by a score of 87-74.
 
Joey Schmitz scored a game-high 26 points on incredible shooting splits. He shot 10-15 from the floor, 5-7 from three-point range, while recording three rebounds, three assists, and a game-high four steals.
 
Cole Pride put up 18 points while shooting 6-12 from the floor and 4-7 from beyond the arc. He hauled in four rebounds and recorded two steals.
 
Daniel Savovic added nine points on 4-10 shooting while Christian Torres scored six points on 2-6 shooting with a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Nate Smith recorded seven points on 3-6 shooting with two steals, and Kobe Stoudemire dished out a game-high five assists without committing a turnover.
 
Rose-Hulman will continue their season on the road against Anderson on Saturday, December 13, at 3 PM.