TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team finished with a share of the Liberty League regular-season title and is the second-seed in this weekend's Liberty League Tournament, hosted by top-seed Hobart College. The Engineers will face third-seed Skidmore on Friday night at 6pm, with the winner advancing to Saturday's championship game at 3pm.

Led by 26th-year head coach Mike Griffin, the Engineers enter post-season play with a 17-7 overall record, including an 11-3 mark in the Liberty League. The Engineers were 6-2 on the road this season and 2-1 in neutral site contests.

The last time Rensselaer played in the Liberty League Tournament was during the 2008-09 campaign, when it took home the title out of the three-seed. The Engineers went on to the NCAA Tournament, where they fell in the opening round.

As a team, RPI leads the Liberty League in a number of categories, including rebounding (40.1 rebounds per game), offensive rebounds (13.5) and blocked shots (4.96).  The Engineers are also second in the conference in scoring, averaging 77.2 points per game, scoring margin (+7.5), three-point shooting percentage (37.1%) and three-point shooting percentage defense (31.8%). 

Individually, senior Travis Jones (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia) paces a balanced scoring attack, averaging 12.5 points per game on 42.7% (105 for 246) shooting. Classmates DJ Blakemore (Bloomfield Township, MI/Lahser) and Mike Brion (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) are second and third, respectively, averaging 9.4 and 9.0 points per contest.

Off the glass, sophomore Daniel Martin (Cohasset, MA/Cohasset) is the Engineers' leading rebounder, averaging 5.2 boards per contest. Adding 5.2 points a game, he leads the Liberty League in blocked shots per contest (1.86), swatting away 41 shots through 22 games. Senior Jeremy Moylan (Monroe, NY/Monroe-Woodbury) ranks second in the conference in blocked shots per contest (1.42), while averaging 4.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

Following the Engineers' match-up against the Thoroughbreds, the host Statesmen battle fourth-seed Hamilton at 8pm on Friday. The winner of that contest will take on the winner of the Rensselaer/Skidmore game on Saturday in the championship game (3pm).