Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Engineers strengthened their bid for the Liberty League playoffs with a convincing 86-39 win over the Vassar College men's basketball team Tuesday night at the Athletics & Fitness Center. RPI put together a balanced scoring attac -- eight RPI players scored more than six points -- to put the Brewers away early.

Vassar is now 2-21 overall and 0-12 in the league. They will host their final games of the season this weekend, taking on Hamilton on Friday at 8:00 p.m. and Hobart on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. With the win, the Engineers improve to 14-8 and 6-6 and are tied with Clarkson for fifth place in the league. They will host Hobart on Friday and Hamilton on Saturday.

Vassar struck first in the contest, when freshman John Donnelly drilled a fade-away three-pointer as the shot clock expired on his team's first possession, but the home team would not score again for nearly six and a half minutes. During that span, Rensselaer rattled off 15 unanswered points. Senior forward Ricky Philatre took control in the post, and even threw down a two-handed dunk in traffic to set the tone of the game.

The Brewers suffered from a number of lengthy scoring draughts throughout the first half while the Engineers continued to shoot well. Vassar shot just 20 percent from the field while RPI was 45 percent, including 7 of 12 from behind the arc in the first half.

Rensselaer had built an indomitable 43-16 lead at the intermission, and although Vassar shot considerably better in the second half, the damage had already been done. RPI's bench players stepped up to contribute 55 points collectively, while Vassar had just one player score in double figures. Donnelly led Vassar with 10 points and 6 rebounds.

Rensselaer's Mike Brion led all scorers with 12 points, and Travis Jones contributed 11 on perfect 4-4 shooting.