ALUMNI WEEKEND!: Rensselaer men's basketball hosts its Alumni Weekend thi Friday and Saturday, which includes an Alumni Game on Saturday at East Campus Arena (11am).

THREE TO GO: The Engineers have two more games following today's match-up with Clarkson (4pm) ... RPI travels to Vassar next Friday (8pm), before hosting Bard on Sunday to close out the regular season (4pm).

HONORING COACH GRIFFIN: Rensselaer will honor former head coach Mike Griffin following Saturday's game against Clarkson ... Griffin was at the helm of the Engineers for 30 season, compiling a 402-382 record, which included one season as the head women's coach (1994-95) ... He guided the Engineers to eight post-season appearances, including three NCAA Tournaments (1991, 1996 & 2009) and he was the league's Coach of the Year five times (1990, 1991, 1995, 1999 & 2011).

RENSSELAER FALLS AT SKIDMORE: Skidmore shot a season-high 58% (29-50) from the field, including 71% (17-24) in the first half, in a 77-58 win over Rensselaer, last night in Saratoga Springs ... Aldin Medunjanin led all players with 22 points on 8 of 11 shooting, going 6 of 9 from 3-point range ... Connor Merrill had 16 points and eight boards andErik Sanders chipped in with 14 points ... Josh Dugas finished with a team-high 14 points on 6 of 10 shooting ... Tyler Gendron had 13 points and Chase Almond added 10 points ... Medunjanin got Skidmore out to a 20-11 lead to open the game, tallying 14 points on 4 of 5 shooting, including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc ... The Engineers responded with a back-to-back layups by Gendron, but again Medunjanin led the Thoroughbreds, knocking down his fifth 3-pointer of the half ... Skidmore outscored RPI 20-7 over the final eight minutes to take a 45-27 lead into the break ... Skidmore put the game out of reach with a 20-10 run to start the second half ... The Thoroughbreds hot shooting continued throughout the half, finishing 12 for 26 to cruise to the 77-58 win.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live statistics for today's action – and all Rensselaer home games – can be followed at http://www.sidearmstats.com/rpi/mbb.

WATCH ONLINE: Home games can be seen live at www.rpiathletics.com/watch/mbball. 

PACING THE ENGINEERS: Four RPI players are currently averaging double-figures in scoring, including junior Chase Almond at 12.9 points per game ... He is followed by senior captain Josh Dugas (12.5 ppg) and junior Brian Hatcher (11.2 ppg) ... Classmate Tyler Gendron (11.1 ppg) rounds out the top four ... Almond hauls in a team-high 8.3 rebounds per contest, while Dugas dishes out a club-best 2.8 assists per game ... RPI has three players shooting better than 35% from beyond the arc, including sophomore Jonathan Luster (46.9%), Hatcher (37.0%) and Dugas (36.0%).

CLARKSON LEADERS: Senior John Coleman paces the Golden Knights at 17.3 points per game, on 54.5% shooting from the floor ... Junior Felix Abongo is second at 13.1 points per contest ... He leads the team with 7.0 rebounds per game ... Senior Dylan Dodownes rounds out the top three scorers at 9.2 points per contest.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS EDGED BY UNION: Clarkson dropped just its third game in conference action on Friday night, falling 75-70 to Union ... In the first five minutes of the contest, Clarkson jumped out to a 14-7 lead following a 3-pointer from Charles McAllister ... However, Union would quickly rally and tie the game up at 20-20, and then take the lead a few moments later ... Though the game would go back and forth and would be tied at 32-32 late in the half, Union would end the first period with a 7-0 run and would never trail again ... In the second half, three-pointers by the Dutchmen keyed some top moments for Union as Wade McNamara and Kevin Weckworth hit long range shots for Union in the first four-plus minutes following intermission ... Clarkson slowly crawled back into the contest, slashing a 10-point deficit (61-51, 10:38) down to just three points in only 140 seconds ... However, a three-pointer from Deshon Burgess two minutes later pushed Union's lead back to nine ... Clarkson then scored the next seven points, topped off by a three from Dylan Hodownes with 3:06 to go, but that two-point margin would be as close as the Knights would get for the remainder of the game ... Hodownes finished with a career-high 22 points, shooting 8-for-11 overall with six 3-pointers made in only eight attempts, and added in seven assists ... Felix Abongo came close to a double-double with 17 points and eight rebounds while John Coleman tossed in 14 points and seven boards. 

JANUARY 16, 2015: Senior John Coleman tossed in 20 and Clarkson's bench produced 33 points, including 22 in the first half, as the Golden Knights defeated Rensselaer 69-54 ... Right off the opening tip, Dylan Hodownes buried a three-pointer and Clarkson never trailed ... The Knights, up by three points (12-9) at the 13:40 mark went on an 11-0 run that was capped off by a Drew Zlogar three ... A few minutes later near the end of the half RPI had pulled back to within eight points, but on three possessions the Knights saw their lead jump back into double figures thanks to triples from Mike Hayduk and Conrad Zampier ... A strong start to the second half by the Engineers brought the margin back to within single digits ... Down by just 11 midway through the second half, though, the Engineers couldn't keep up the pace as Clarkson scored seven quick points on a Charles McAllister three and two quick buckets from Coleman ... Coleman finished with 20 points, shooting 9-for-13 from the field, and he added in three steals ... For RPI, Chase Almond scored 14 points and recorded eight rebounds and Josh Dugas added in 14 points, going 5-for-9 from the floor.

THE CAPTAINS: Seniors Josh Dugas and Jarrett Boeglin lead the Engineers on the court for the 2014-15 season

BY POSITION: The Engineers roster consists of five guards, six forwards and one combination guard/forward.

BY CLASS: The team is made up of one freshman, two sophomores, seven juniors and two seniors.

RENSSELAER'S COACHES: The Engineers are led by first-year head coach Mark Gilbride ... He is a 2002 graduate of Bowdoin College ... Gilbride is assisted by Matt Kelly.