TROY, N.Y. - For the first time in the 10-year history of the East Campus Arena, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team will host post-season play as the top-seed in the Liberty League Tournament. The Engineers begin the three-game event by hosting fourth-seeded Union on Saturday at 2pm with second-seeded Hobart College facing the third seed, Ithaca College, at 4:30pm. The winners compete for the title and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at 2pm.
RPI is 22-3 with a 17-1 conference mark, including a 5-1 record against the other three teams in the field. Union, which won a first round game on Tuesday to improve to 16-9, finished with a 12-6 league record. The Dutchmen were 1-5 against the remaining squads. The Statesmen had regular season records of 21-4 and 15-3 with a mark of 3-3 against Rensselaer, Union and Ithaca. The Bombers, who also won a Tuesday night affair, are 21-5 and were 15-3 in the league. They were 3-3 against the field including a win against the Engineers.
Rensselaer, which is led by sixth-year head coach
Mark Gilbride, rank third in Division III in scoring defense, allowing only 59.9 points per game. The opposition manages to shoot 41.3 percent, but are out-rebounded by 6.4 boards per game while turning the ball over 17.2 times per contest. The Engineers average 9.9 steals 19.3 points off turnovers, which is nearly seven points more than the opposition (12.8). RPI scores 73.0 points per game.
Junior forward
Patrick Mahoney (Ossining, NY / Fordham Prep.) is the leading point producer, averaging 15.4 points on 152 of 321 attempts - both team-highs. He pulls down 5.5 rebounds, while having registered 36 assists and 25 steals in 27.7 minutes. A three-time Liberty League Performer of the Week, Mahoney has scored at least 20 points in seven games and has three double-doubles (points and rebounds).
Dom Black (Arlington, MA / Arlington), a sophomore guard, leads the Engineers in minutes (30.7), rebounding (6.1), assists (89) and steals (54) and ranks third in scoring average (11.2) and blocked shots (11). He has had multiple steals in 17 of the 25 games and at least three assists in 19. Black was the ECAC Division III North Player of the Month in January.
The ECAC North Player of the Month in December was
Mason Memmelaar (Middletown, NY / Pine Bush), a sophomore forward who is second on the team in scoring (13.4) and third in rebounding (5.4) while averaging 24.1 minutes. He has made 55.4 percent of his shot attempts (138 of 249) with 48 assists, 37 steals and a team-best 20 blocks.
RPI, which lost at Ithaca in the Liberty League Tournament First Round last season, had a school record-tying 18-game winning streak from mid-November through early-February. The Engineers have set the school record for overall wins and conference victories, including a 61-50 win over Union on January 10 in Troy and an 85-79 win over the Dutchmen in Schenectady on February 1.
Union, which has won four straight games, defeated fifth-seeded Vassar College 72-62 in a first round game on Tuesday to advance to the semifinals.
