Defense and Gary Gait gave the Thunder a 14-11 victory over the Rochester Knighthawks last night at Blue Cross Arena, securing a National Lacrosse League playoff spot for the Thunder.

"We thought all along that defense would be the key to victory tonight," said coach John Tucker, whose team is tied for first place. "And we played real good defense after the first five or six minutes."

Good, indeed. Rochester went almost 19 minutes without scoring and its top three scorers were held without a goal, as the Thunder (7-3) turned a 7-5 deficit into an 11-7 lead.

Baltimore went 6-for-9 on the power play and ended Rochester's four-game winning streak. Toronto beat Buffalo, 13-12, in overtime to remain tied with the Thunder.

"We've been very successful on the power play and we have so many people who can shoot the ball," said Gait, who overtook teammate Joe Hiltz for the league's scoring lead with his six goals and four assists. Hiltz finished with seven assists.

Curt Malawsky led Rochester (6-4) with four goals and two assists. Duane Jacobs, Cory Bomberry and Chris Driscoll -- who entered the game with 39 goals among them -- did not score for the Knighthawks.

Rochester jumped in front 3-0 in the first 6 1/2 minutes before the Thunder responded with four straight goals -- two by Gait -- and grabbed its first lead when Jesse Hubbard beat Pat O'Toole for a man-up score with nine minutes left in the half. Rochester scored four of the next six to take a 7-6 lead at halftime.

Hubbard's third goal of the game and Baltimore's fourth straight on the power play pulled the Thunder even again 5:29 into the third. And Rodney Tapp's short-handed score 4:10 later put it in front to stay.

The Thunder scored the next three goals to take an 11-7 advantage less than a minute into the fourth quarter before Malawsky ended Rochester's drought with 12:25 left.

The Knighthawks scored the next two to pull within a goal before Gait scored his fifth at 6:54. Rusty Kruger scored at 8:43 to give Rochester life again, but Matt Shearer iced things for the Thunder after taking a long pass from Chris Sanderson with 2:28 left. Gait added his final goal into an empty net with six seconds left.

Sanderson made 29 saves for the Thunder.

"It wasn't a conscious effort to stay in first place," Gait said. "This playoff race is so close. We wanted to do it for our fans and get home-field advantage."

BOX SUMMARY
                                  1  2  3  4     TOT
Baltimore Thunder (7-3)           2  4  4  4  --  14
Rochester Knighthawks (6-4)       3  4  0  4  --  11

BALTIMORE THUNDER             ROCHESTER KNIGHTHAWKS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Gait           6 - 4    10    Malawsky       4 - 2     6
Hiltz          0 - 7     7    Hollenbeck     2 - 0     2
Hubbard        3 - 0     3    Dowling        2 - 1     3
Shearer        2 - 1     3    Kruger         1 - 2     3
Tapp           2 - 1     3    Powell         1 - 2     3
Clune          0 - 3     3    Soudan         1 - 2     3
Sanderson      0 - 2     2    Jacobs         0 - 3     3
Martin         1 - 0     1    Dance          0 - 2     2
Cantabene      0 - 1     1    Driscoll       0 - 2     2
Ryan           0 - 1     1    Hasen          0 - 1     1
                              Teat           0 - 1     1
                              O'Toole        0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           55    Shots on goal           69
Saves made by (GA)      29    Saves made by (GA)      31
   Sanderson (11)    29          O'Toole (14)      31

*** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH BALTIMORE SUN ***