ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's basketball advanced to the Liberty League Tournament Semifinals, and will face No. 2 seed, and defending champion, Union College on Saturday, February 24 at 4:30 p.m. on the campus of Hobart College.
 
Top-seed Hobart College will host No. 5 Skidmore College in the other semifinal on Saturday. The winners advance to the championship game on Sunday, February 25 at 2 p.m. on the campus of Hobart.

RIT, the third seed, is 14-12 overall and advanced to the semifinals after defeating Vassar College 68-63 Tuesday evening. Trailing at halftime, the Tigers outscored the Brewers 32-23 in the second half to advance to Saturday's semifinal. Troy Pierre-Louis (Providence, RI/Berkshire School) led the Tigers with 27 points, including 20 in the second half. Robert Aguilera (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The Tigers enter the weekend tenth in the league in scoring, averaging 69.0 points per game. RIT is ninth in the league shooting 40.4 percent from the floor. Pierre-Louis is tied for ninth in the league in scoring, averaging 15.4 points per game. He is second in free throw percentage (86.1 percent) and fourth in assists (3.8 APG).

Defensive, RIT is fourth in the league, allowing 71.4 points per game. The Tigers are sixth allowing their opponents to shoot 41.6 percent from the floor, and are second in the league, averaging 41.2 rebounds per game. Aguilera leads the league and is tied for second in all of Division III averaging 3.2 blocks per game. He is second in Division III with 82 blocks. His 82 blocks this season breaks the previous record at the university for blocks in a season with 80 set by Charlie Bartlett in 1992-93. He is fourth in the Liberty League in rebounding, averaging 8.8 caroms per game.

Union comes into the tournament 16-8 overall, and is 4-1 in its last five games, including an 80-77 win over Hobart College last Saturday. Kevin McNoble led the Dutchmen with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Jackson Mannix tallied 12 points off the bench.

The Dutchmen enter Saturday second in the Liberty League in scoring, averaging 77.5 points per game. The Dutchmen are eighth in the league shooting 41.8 percent from the floor. Weckworth leads the team and is second in the league in scoring, averaging 21.7 points per game. He is eighth in assists, averaging 3.1 per game. McNoble is sixth in assists (3.5 APG).
 
Defensively, Union is third, allowing 70.3 points, and is fourth allowing opponents to shoot 40.9 percent from the floor. The Dutchmen are third, averaging 40.6 rebounds per game. Rhona Eseyade and Brendan Laing are fifth and sixth respectively in blocks, averaging 1.4 and 1.3 per contest respectively.

Union is 10-7 all time versus Union. RIT split both games this season with each team winning on the road. The Dutchmen beat RIT 79-70 at Clark Gym Feb. 16. Anthony Lewis (Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili) led the Tigers with 25 points. Weckworth led Union with 31 points.
 
RIT went 1-1 versus Skidmore, and 0-2 versus Hobart this season. The Tigers beat Skidmore 69-61 on Feb. 10 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Lewis led RIT with 22 points, while Aguilera tallied 15 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had three blocks. Hobart beat RIT 79-50 in Geneva, N.Y. on Jan. 27.