Fresh off of a strong road win Wednesday that put it within a game of first place in the HCAC, Franklin men's basketball ran into one of the two teams at the top on Saturday afternoon.

Rose-Hulman came into the Spurlock Center and spoiled the Grizzlies' Alumni Day celebration with a convincing 74-48 victory.

The Grizzlies (9-7, 5-4) started strong, jumping out to an early 7-0 lead, before getting outscored 12-0 over the next five minutes as the visitors pulled out in front by five. The Engineer lead grew to 17-9 before Franklin rallied, using a nine-point surge to briefly pull ahead at 23-21 with 7:40 remaining in the half. Cooper Matthews tied the game up with a 3-pointer before Connor McNabb scored the go-ahead bucket off a Justin Harrington steal.

Two Matthews foul shots gave the Griz a 25-24 edge at the 5:54 mark, but Rose-Hulman closed the half with a 14-2 surge to claim control of the game. An Engineer 3-pointer to start the second half made it 42-27, and an 11-0 burst shortly thereafter stretched the margin to 24 points.

The Grizzlies weren't helped by a frigid shooting effort, hitting just 15 of 47 shots overall (31.9%) and 6 of 25 in the second half. The team made just two of its 25 3-point attempts and also missed eight of 24 from the free throw line.

Matthews scored 14 points and added four steals in the loss, with freshman Rohan Pearson contributing 12 points off the bench. 

Franklin will be back at Spurlock on Wednesday (Jan. 21) to take on the league's other current co-leader, Anderson.