Box Score Host Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology shot 55 percent from the field, holding the Lions to 41 percent field goal shooting in the game, and converted 16-of-21 free throws today en route to a 68-60 win over the Mount in HCAC play. The Lions finish the regular season with a 19-6 overall record, and 14-4 in the HCAC, tying Defiance College for the top spot in the conference standings. Today's games marked the end of the 2014-2015 regular season. Defiance will host the HCAC Tournament as the top seed, due to holding a tie-breaker over the Mount. The Lions will play in the Semifinals of the HCAC Tournament on Feb. 28 with a game at Defiance at 7 p.m. against the winner of the #6 Anderson University vs. #3 Bluffton University first round game. #5 Hanover College will take on #4 Rose-Hulman in the other first round game, with the winner playing against top-seeded Defiance on Feb. 28. The Championship game will take place at Defiance College on March 1 at 2 p.m.
It is the Lions' first ever HCAC men's basketball title in the history of the program. The Mount has had men's basketball since the 1998-1999 season.
The Mount got off to a slow start on Saturday afternoon against the Fightin' Engineer's. Training 13-11 at 10:42, the Lions saw the home team og on a 5-0 run to pull ahead, 18-11, with just under nine minutes left to play in the first half. Both teams would go cold from the floor, but Ken Kunkel (Cincinnati, OH/Colerain) made a lay-up with 5:36 left to cut the deficit for his team to 18-13. Rose-Hulman would build its lead up nine points, 24-15 with 2:13 play.The Lions would close the game to 25-18, despite shooting only 31 percent from the field and making just one-of-14 shots from behind the three-point arc.
The Lions would come out determined in the second half to get back into the game right away, and did, out-scoring Rose-Hulman 14-0 to start the half, as they got points from four different players to lead, 32-25 with 14:54 on the clock. The Mount also forced four Rose-Hulman turnovers during that run as they held the lead until 12:25 on the clock when the Fightin' Engineers hit two free throws to tie the game at 34-all. A three-point field goal by Rose-Hulman on their next possession gave them the lead again, 37-34, a lead which they did not relinquish the rest of the game. Kunkel's three-point field goal with 2:09 to play cut the Rose-Hulman lead to 59-53 and a lay-up by Joel Scudder (Greendale, IN/South Dearborn) with 11 seconds left in the game made the score 66-60.
Femi Thompson (Cincinnati, OH/Aiken) finished the game with a game-high 26 points while Kunkel chipped in a game-high 13 rebounds while adding eight points. Mark Allen (Cincinnati, OH/Northwest) had 14 points. Scudder had 10 points. Rose-Hulman had a 30-26 rebounding edge but committed 11 turnovers while the MOunt had seven miscues. The Lions were eight-of-nine from the free throw line. Rose-Hulman's bench out-scored the Mount's substitutes, 29-2.
