TERRE HAUTE – The Earlham College men's basketball team dropped out of the 2022 HCAC tournament with a 66-56 loss to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Sunday afternoon. 

The Quakers conclude their season with a 10-13 record and a seventh-place conference finish in the regular season. 

Kolden Vanlandingham led all scorers with 27 points. The freshman also collected a team-high five rebounds and a game-high four assists. 

Both teams struggled for offense in the early minutes of the game, as was represented by the first score coming over three minutes into the contest. It took the Quakers over five minutes to finally put themselves in the scoring column with a layup by Chase Younts. 

Once the Engineers found the net, they excelled in scoring, and led 15-5 midway through the first half. Earlham then scored an 11-2 run over the next five minutes to bring the score to 17-16. 

The Engineers responded with a 6-0 run to take a 23-16 lead with three minutes remaining until halftime. The home squad held this advantage into the break. 

After a jumper from Vanlandingham to start the second half, Rose-Hulman scored a 7-1 run to extend its lead over the Quakers. 

Vanlandingham and Jaden Terry led the Quakers on a 6-0 run to bring the score to 38-31 with 15 minutes remaining in the contest. 

A 3-pointer from Zachariah Andre made the score 39-34 with 13:43 left on the clock and gave the Quakers a burst of momentum. The Engineers were eager to squash the momentum with a layup and a steal for another score on the following possession. Rose had scored four points in just 16 seconds and had swung all the momentum in its favor. 

Trailing 47-36 with 12 minutes remaining, the Quakers scored a 7-0 run to close the gap to 47-43. The Engineers again scored on quick consecutive possessions after a steal and increased their lead to eight with six minutes remaining. 

Another Earlham surge saw the Quakers make a 5-0 run to trail 51-48 with 5:39 left in the game. 

Rose-Hulman took the lead back for good with an 8-0 run through three minutes of clock time. Earlham trailed 61-50, and was unable to make up the deficit in the final two minutes due in part to accurate free throws from the Engineers. 

The Quakers bow out of their first HCAC tournament appearance since joining the conference prior to the 2011 season. The 10-13 record marks the first double-digit win season since the 2000-01 team had a record of 10-6 in the North Coast Athletic Conference.