SUNY Cobleskill Stumbles on the Road, 66-42 at RPI

COBLESKILL – The SUNY Cobleskill men’s basketball team couldn’t recover from slow starts in both halves on Tuesday night, falling 66-42 to RPI inside ECAV Arena.

Bruce Wilder Jr. (Rochester, NY) led the Tigers with 11 points, knocking down all five of his free throws and finding his rhythm late. Chrischen Chung (Poughkeepsie, NY) and Spencer Daby (Au Sable Forks, NY) added six points each, with Chung connecting on two threes. Rowan Morel (Manhattan, NY), Ryan Nadje (Harlem, NY) and La’Anthony Fairley (Canajoharie, NY) each grabbed four rebounds, while Zander Poissant provided a lift off the bench with five points.

Cobleskill shot 27.5 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from deep, while RPI finished at 39.7 percent from the floor and 31.8 percent from three. The Engineers controlled the interior, holding a 34-12 edge in points in the paint and a 49-31 advantage on the glass. Cobleskill’s bench continued to be a positive, outscoring RPI 20-17.

RPI opened the game on an 11-0 run before the Tigers broke through with an Andrew Wright (Berne, NY) layup off a feed from Morel. Chung followed with a step-back three to spark a 5-0 push, and Cobleskill clawed within 13-10 after a strong drive from Cameron Rhode (Elmira, NY). The Engineers answered with another burst to rebuild space, and Chung buried a second triple to keep the Tigers in range as they entered halftime trailing 27-16.

The Engineers came out of the locker room with momentum, using a 14-5 run to take control and extend their lead. Wilder Jr. stayed productive late, cashing in a pull-up jumper for his 11th point, but Cobleskill couldn’t generate enough offense to climb back into contention.