TROY, N.Y.—The Rensselaer men's basketball team broke open a tight game in the second half on the way to a 72-54 Liberty League playoff win over Skidmore College, Tuesday night in Troy. The Engineers (18-8) will travel to Ithaca for a semifinal with the Bombers on Friday. The Thoroughbreds end the season 13-13.
- Mark Engel and Riley Greene scored 16 each to lead Skidmore. Greg Skoric had a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with eight points.
- Avery Eugster led RPI with 19 points.
- Skidmore hit its first three shots to get an early start 6-2. The Thoroughbreds maintained the lead until the Engineers snuck back in front 21-20 at the 6:30 mark. The teams exchanged leads four times the rest of the half with Bobby Stratts and Engel going 4-4 from the line to score the finals points of the half, sending the Thoroughbreds into the locker room with a 29-28 lead.
- Engel (12) and Greene (9) combined for 21 of Skidmore's 29 first-half points.
- The Engineers came out the break strong, opening with a 12-2 run to secure a 40-31 lead with 16:15 to play. The lone Skidmore points were a pair of Engel free throws. Greene hit his team's first bucket of the half at 15:33 to make it 40-33.
- RPI continued to stifle Skidmore defensively, while hitting six of nine threes to extend the lead to 66-49 with 4:25 to play.
- The Thoroughbreds weren't able to close the gap.
- The Engineers finished 12-24 (50%) from beyond the arc for the game, while Skidmore was 3-18 (16.7%).
- Skidmore was competing in 12th league tournament in the past 13 seasons.
