The Anderson University men's basketball team rallied past Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a 70-62 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) road victory on Wednesday in Terre Haute.
Anderson (8-6, 5-2) and Rose-Hulman (7-7, 4-3) entered the contest in a tie for second in the HCAC standings. After the win, Anderson and Hanover College (11-3, 5-2) are tied for second in the conference and are one game out from HCAC-leading Franklin College (10-4, 6-1).
Rose-Hulman built a 26-10 lead in the opening 10 minutes, 21 seconds. A critical lineup change for the Ravens allowed Anderson to narrow the deficit to 38-30 at halftime. Anderson rallied to victory by outscoring the Fightin' Engineers 40-24 in the second half.
"For two games in a row, we simply have not come out and played hard or tough," Coach Owen Handy said. "Our solution to that was to change the guys who were on the floor, and those guys gave us a huge lift. J.D. Bembry was fantastic, and Riley Reutener did a great job in ball-screen coverage. The first half minutes we got from Phil Bessick, Cade Gentry, and Tate Cooper were absolutely essential."
The gameplan put together by the Anderson coaching staff proved to be a critical piece of Wednesday's win.
"Our assistant coaching staff did a great job in this game as well. Coach Jalen Paige's scout was right in the money, Coach Carter Collins made a couple of key defensive adjustments as the game progressed, and Coach Jovon McGraw had an insight into Maurice Knight's game and he had arguably his best all-around half of the season in the second half."
Knight led the Ravens with 24 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks. The 6-foot-4 junior wing from Frankton recorded 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and a block in the second half.
Bembry notched 20 points, smashing his previous career scoring high. The 6-foot senior guard from Fishers drained 7-of-9 (77.8 percent) shots from the floor and 6-of-7 (85.7 percent) shots from 3-point range.
Malik Laffoon contributed 15 points and three steals. The 6-foot-2 senior guard from Bloomington converted 7-of-10 (70 percent) shots from the field. Reutener turned in three points. Cooper, Gentry, Dalton DuBois and Larry Johnson each rounded out the Anderson scoring effort with two points. Ronny Williams also dished out five assists.
Craig McGee tallied 22 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the Fightin' Engineers. John Czarnecki put together 13 points and 14 rebounds. Eli Combs blocked two shots.
Rose-Hulman committed 16 turnovers while Anderson turned the ball over only nine times. The Ravens outscored the Fightin' Engineers 17-7 off turnovers.
Rose-Hulman held a 48-29 rebounding advantage. The Fightin' Engineers finished with a 16-7 advantage in offensive rebounds and outscored the Ravens 12-4 in second-chance points.
Anderson knocked down 25-of-60 (41.7 percent) shots from the field and 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) attempts from 3-point range. Rose-Hulman hit 23-of-60 (38.3 percent) attempts from the floor and 4-of-16 (25 percent) shots from behind the arc.
The Ravens converted 10-of-15 (66.7 percent) shots from the free-throw line while the Fightin' Engineers made 12-of-19 (63.2 percent) attempts from the charity stripe.
"This was simply a tough, tough win for us to get on the road at one of the hardest places to play in the conference. I am really proud of our team."
Anderson battles Bluffton University (7-7, 3-4) in an HCAC matchup on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Bluffton, Ohio.
