ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Matthew Whittaker registered a three-point night and Lester Lancaster scored the third-period, go-ahead goal as the Mercyhurst men's ice hockey team held off the Rochester Institute of Technology for a 4-3 win in Atlantic Hockey action on Friday. With the win, Mercyhurst remains in contention to host an AHA Tournament quarterfinal series.

Whittaker finished with one goal and two assists while Lancaster and Taylor Best had two-point nights -- both having one goal and one assist. Jonathan Charbonneau also had a goal and winning goaltender Adam Carlson made 31 saves for the Lakers (16-13-4, 14-9-4), who snapped a five-game losing streak to R.I.T.

Lancaster scored the game-winner with 8:53 remaining in regulation. The goal occurred during a 5-on-3 power play as Whittaker and Jack Riley provided assists. From there, Carlson made the lead stand.

The host Tigers (14-13-6, 14-8-5) had taken an early 1-0 advantage on Danny Smith's first-period goal. Charbonneau answered later in the first, scoring a power-play goal with assists from Lancaster and Best.

In the second, Liam Kerins gave R.I.T. the lead once again -- just 53 seconds into the period -- as the Tigers took their final lead. Later in the period, Best and Whittaker scored 3:04 apart. Best got assists from Whittaker and Michael Verboom. Then, Patrick Piacentini and Jeremy Wu made assists on the Whittaker goal.

Alexander Kuqali scored the last R.I.T. goal in the third, forging a 3-3 tie which Lancaster broke with the winner.

Christian Short had 21 saves in goal for the Tigers, who held a 34-25 shot advantage. Mercyhurst went 2-for-9 on the power play while R.I.T. finished 1-for-3.

With 32 points in the Atlantic Hockey standings, fifth-place Mercyhurst remains one point behind fourth-place R.I.T. (33). The teams will meet in the AHA Tournament quarterfinals; all that needs to be decided is the location.

When the Tigers visit the Mercyhurst Ice Center for Saturday's 7:05 p.m. regular-season finale, they will need a win or tie to secure home ice while the Lakers need a win to shift a Mar. 11-13 quarterfinal series to Erie.