By: Colton Steiner

BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University men's basketball team played host to the Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers on Saturday, Dec. 7 in an HCAC battle. Despite a slow start from the Fightin' Engineers, stout defense and a second half surge lifted the visitors over the Beavers with a final score of 65-49. The loss dropped Bluffton to 1-6 on the season and 0-2 in conference play, while Rose-Hulman improves to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the HCAC.

Ian Snelling (Erlanger, Ky./Dixie Heights) would start the Beavers off with a triple just 14 seconds into the game as Bluffton jumped ahead 3-0. After the two teams traded buckets over the next several minutes, Snelling would knock down his second three of the game at the 13:11 mark of the first half to give the Beavers a 12-8 lead. Both teams struggled to get any offense going, but a 5-0 run from the Fightin' Engineers to close out the half put the visitors up 28-27 at the break.

Rose-Hulman open up the second stanza outscoring Bluffton 8-2, putting the visitors up 36-27. They were then able to extend their lead to 12 after a layup made the score 46-34 with 12:10 to play. The Beavers would find some momentum after a three from JD Stokes (West Harrison, Ind./Franklin County) sparked an 8-2 spurt from Bluffton to bring them within four (48-44) with 8:24 remaining in the contest when freshman sparkplug Trevor Daughtry (Wabash, Ind.) dialed long distance!

However, Rose-Hulman was able to go on its own run, outscoring the Beavers 11-2 to extend the lead to 59-46. Despite a three from Sihr Sumner (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) with 3:01 left, the Fightin' Engineers would knock down back-to-back triples to close out the contest, handing Bluffton a 65-49 loss.

Leading the home team in scoring was Nevin Robson (Kenton/Hardin Northern), who notched 12 points while also grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out a team-high four assists. Snagging 11 boards was Cam Rogers (Cincinnati/Cincinnati Christian) who also added eight points. Ian Snelling would score eight and collect seven rebounds Saturday afternoon.

Bluffton struggled to knock down shots from the field, going 14-of-50 (28 percent) from the floor and only 29.2 percent (7-of-24) outside the three point line. Rose-Hulman managed to knock down 33.3 percent of it's shots from the field, including 30 percent from behind the arc. The visitors won the battle on the glass glass (50-40), thanks to a 16-6 edge on the offensive end. Those rebounds led to a 15-4 advantage in second chance points for the Fightin' Engineers.

The Beavers will return to action with a trip to Lexington, Ky., on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 4 p.m. when they face off against Transylvania University following a week of finals

-Beavers-