TROY, N.Y. - For the second consecutive season, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team will host Skidmore College in a Liberty League Tournament game at East Campus Arena. The fourth-seeded Engineers, who are 17-8 overall and 11-7 in the conference, face the fifth-seeded Thoroughbreds, who are 13-12 and 11-7, on Tuesday at 7:30pm. 

Rensselaer, which is led by ninth-year head coach Mark Gilbride, is currently fifth in Division III in scoring defense, allowing only 58.0 points per game. The opposition shoots 39.3 percent from the floor and turns the ball over 3.5 times more than RPI. The Engineers average 7.6 steals per contest.

Graduate student Dom Black (Arlington, MA / Arlington), a guard who is the two-time defending conference Defensive Player of the Year, leads Rensselaer in most statistical categories, including scoring (13.2 points per game), rebounding (7.0 per game), steals (44), minutes per game (32.4), and field goal percentage (48.7%). He is tied for second in assists with 62.

Black has scored in double figures in 20 of the 25 games, including a season-high of 25 points at Vassar College on January 20, and has 10-or-more rebounds twice. His season-high of seven assists came at St. Lawrence University on February 10, while he has had five steals in two games: November 19 at Western New England University and versus Clarkson University on January 13.
  
Senior forward Jonny Angbazo (Tenafly, NJ / Tenafly) also averages in double figures with 12.2 points per game, along with 5.7 rebounds in 31.4 minutes. He is first on the squad in blocks with 21 and has registered 41 assists and 32 steals. Angbazo has 16 games of at least 10 points and three-or-more rebounds in 23 contests. 

A junior forward, Avery Eugster (San Antonio, TX / Saint Mary's Hall) scores 10.1 points per game and pulls down 5.0 rebounds, both of which are third on the team. He shoots 48.3 percent from the floor (99 of 205) and has a team-high 69 assists with 19 steals and 15 blocked shots. 

Will Rubin (Mount Kisco, NY / Iona Prep.), a senior guard, averages 8.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 26.8 minutes with 62 assists, 28 steals, and seven blocks. He has scored at least 10 points in four of the last six games with multiple assists in each of those contests.

Rensselaer's two regular season games against Skidmore were played on January 21, a 70-57 RPI win in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and on February 3 when RPI won 74-61 at home. Both teams are 3-2 since their most recent meeting. 

In last season's post-season matchup, the visiting Thoroughbreds, who were the fourth seed, defeated the top-seeded Engineers 70-53 in the conference semifinals. RPI went on to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 for just the second time in school history. 

The winner of Tuesday's game faces Ithaca College (18-7; 14-4), the top seed, in the semifinals on Friday night at 8pm in Ithaca, N.Y. The final is Sunday at the highest remaining seed of the six-team tournament.