ITHACA, N.Y. -- Second-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology (17-8) advanced to the Empire 8 Championship Tournament final, holding off the third-seeded Utica Pioneers (17-9) for a 65-62 win in the first of Saturday's semifinals. The Tigers will face either top-seeded Ithaca or fourth-seeded Nazareth at 1 p.m. in Sunday's final with the Empire 8's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs on the line.
A jumper by senior center Mark Carson beat the shot clock buzzer with 1:15 left in regulation and put RIT up for good (64-62), breaking the 13th tie of the game. The Pioneers missed a three-point basket on their next possession and couldn't get the defensive rebound when the Tigers missed a three-point attempt of their own. Sophomore guard Nate Korinchak was fouled after collecting the rebound for RIT and made both free throws to put the Tigers up by four.
Two free throws by Utica senior guard Doug Herring and a Tiger free throw by Adam Sweet left the Pioneers with an opportunity to tie the game on their last possession, but their three-pointer was off the mark and the Tigers controlled the rebound to advance to the Empire 8 final for the first time.
Carson led RIT with 14 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Scott Young added 14 points, Marcus Lowe netted 12 and Sweet added 11.
Herring paced the Pioneers with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Patrick Goodman and James Patterson added 13 each and James McClendon contributed 12.
For Bob McVean, the win was his 400th as RIT's head coach.
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