TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers suffered an intense loss to the Franklin Grizzlies on Wednesday night with a final score of 64-63. The loss drops the team to 12-7 overall and 9-3 in the HCAC. 

Rose-Hulman was led by Evan Gentile, who totaled 16 points, shooting 7-14 from the field, and totaled a team-high four steals.  Kobe Stoudemire was another spark for the Fightin' Engineers with 14 points, shooting 5-9 to finish the game. Cole Pride also reached double figures with 11 points on the night. Joey Schmitz was the team's leading rebounder with seven, while also adding eight points. 

Franklin came to play as the Grizzlies jumped to a 14-point lead in the first 10 minutes. The team stood ahead 22-8 with 9:37 left in the first half. The Fightin' Engineers battled back to cut the deficit to seven, with the Grizzlies ahead 32-25 at the halftime break. 

The Grizzlies held the lead for the majority of the second half. Rose-Hulman stood down 10 points with the score at 53-43 with 7:50 remaining in the game. The Fightin' Engineers put together a 17-7 run capped off by a made layup from Schmitz to tie the game at 60-60 with 1:30 left in regulation. 

Franklin answered with a made layup to regain the lead at 62-60. Stoudemire came in clutch for the Fightin' Engineers with a huge step-back three-pointer to take the team's first lead of the entire game at 63-62 with 20 seconds left. The Grizzlies were able to get to the basket on their last possession to draw the foul and head to the free-throw line. After two made free throws, the Grizzlies regained the lead at 64-63. 

With nine seconds remaining, the Fightin' Engineers had to settle for a contested three-point attempt by Schmitz that fell short, resulting in Rose-Hulman's third conference loss of the season. 

Rose-Hulman men's basketball will look to bounce back, as they host Transylvania on Saturday, January 31, at 3 PM on Hall of Fame Weekend.