TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology men's basketball schedule features 10 home games and two road tournaments to highlight a competitive 25-game slate released on Monday.

Rose-Hulman reached the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championship game for the fourth time in five seasons last winter and finished 17-11 overall.  The Fightin' Engineers defeated Manchester and Defiance to open HCAC Tournament, before advancing to eventual NCAA Tournament representative Mount St. Joseph in the conference tournament final last season.

The 2016-17 schedule opens on Nov. 19-20 with a trip to the Birmingham Southern Tip-off Tournament in Alabama.  The season opening five-game road trip also includes a game at Wabash on Nov. 27, before road conference games at Mount St. Joseph (Dec. 3) and Franklin (Dec. 7).

The home schedule features two games in December, four in January and four in February.  The home opener is Saturday Dec. 10, when the Fightin' Engineers host Bluffton University at 3 p.m.  Rose-Hulman also hosts Millikin in non-conference action on Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m.

December non-conference road games also include trips to Transylvania (Dec. 17), Illinois Tech (Dec. 22) and the Baldwin Wallace Holiday Tournament (Dec. 29-30).

Rose-Hulman returns home on Wednesday January 4 to face Hanover, before traveling to Manchester and Anderson.  The January slate is highlighted by a three-game homestand against Defiance (Jan. 14), Earlham (Jan. 18) and Transylvania (Jan. 21).  The month closes with road games at Hanover and Bluffton.

The Fightin' Engineers host four of five games to open the month of February.  Franklin (Feb. 1) and Mount St. Joseph (Feb. 4) visit Hulbert Arena, before Rose-Hulman travels to Earlham for the John Mutchner Cup Game on Feb. 8.  The team hosts Manchester on Feb. 11 and Anderson in the home finale Feb. 15, before traveling to Defiance on Feb. 18.

The top six teams in the league standings will qualify for the HCAC Tournament, and Rose-Hulman would begin play in the event on Friday Feb. 24.

Rose-Hulman must replace its top four scorers off last year's team, but 15 returnees and seven newcomers provide plenty of depth.  Charlie Aimone (8.8 ppg), Luke Callahan (6.9 ppg) and Stephen Schueth (6.0 ppg) are the leading returning scorers from last season's squad.

FULL SCHEDULE: http://athletics.rose-hulman.edu/sports/mbkb/2016-17/schedule