Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Four different players reached double-digits, including a game-high 14 points from junior guard Travis Jones (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia) as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team christened the East Campus Arena with a 97-53 victory over Cooper Union College in game one of the RPI Tip-Off Tournament.

With the victory, the Engineers improve to 2-0 on the season and advance to Saturday's championship game at 3pm against the winner of game two between Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and John Abbott College. Cooper Union falls to 0-1 on the season and will play the loser of game two at 1pm on Saturday.

RPI senior captain Tim Rupp (Staten Island, NY/Curtis) made history at 19:31 of the first half, sinking a three-point shot for the first basket scored at East Campus Arena. That shot gave the Engineers a 3-0 lead and the home team continued to press from that point on.

RPI, which led by as many as five (9-4) through the first six minutes of the contest, saw its lead cut down to two as Cooper Union's James Collins made the bucket at 13:14 to make it a 13-11 game.

Junior DJ Blakemore (Bloomfield Township, MI/Lahser) hit a three-point shot at 11:07 to give the homestanding Engineers a 21-15 lead and RPI continued to dominate the ball offensively down the stretch, opening an 18-point lead (42-24) with 4:24 remaining in the half.

Rensselaer headed into the intermission with a 52-31 lead and came out firing in the second half, grabbing a 61-33 advantage less than three minutes in. A layup by Cooper Union's Alex Nagorniy cut the Hawks' deficit to 64-37, but Rupp countered with a layup minutes later to push the RPI lead to 29 once more (66-37).

The Engineers went on several scoring runs down the stretch, including a 10-0 run through the sixth-minute to build up a 42 point-advantage (90-48) with 5:34 remaining in the game. RPI continued to dominate on the boards in the closing minutes, picking up a pair of defensive rebounds in the final minute of the contest.

In addition to Jones, who also had a rebound and a steal, RPI saw sophomore Matthew Pooley (Middletown, NY/Chapel Field Christian School), freshman Daniel Martin (Cohasset, MA/Cohasset) and junior Mike Hammond (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) finish with 10 points apiece.

For Cooper Union, Collins finished with 14 points and a game-best 16 rebounds. Nagorniy had 13 points, while Dominik Goj added 10 points.