RPI men's basketball team loses to Vassar in Liberty League championship game

TROY - There was nothing charming about the third time for the RPI men's basketball team.

Coming in as the top seed of the Liberty League tournament for a second straight year, RPI couldn't capitalize on home-court advantage Sunday in the championship game at ECAV Arena, losing 57-53 to Vassar, a team it had beaten twice in the regular season.

The Engineers (21-6) were eliminated in a similar fashion last year, falling at home to a team (Ithaca) that they had beaten twice during the regular season.

That just escalates the sting and abruptness of a season-ending loss.

"Last year still sucks," junior guard P.J. Scalisi said, "so this one's going to suck for a while."

Neither team led by more than seven. The game included five ties and 12 lead changes.

That was similar to the regular-season meetings, which RPI won 62-56 Jan. 23 in Poughkeepsie and 61-58 Feb. 7 in Troy.

"We all know each other's plays," Scalisi said. "We scout them, they scout us. It just comes down to who makes more plays, and they just happen to make more plays than us."

"Both teams were executing the game plan, and that's why it was a one- to two-possession game," Vassar coach Ryan Mee said. "We are both trying to win. We're used to those one-possession games. The last six games of the regular season were decided by one possession."

Vassar (20-8) led 55-48 with 3:28 remaining before Andrew Deppe's two free throws and Billy Feeks' 3-pointer closed the margin to two. RPI had possession in the final half minute with a chance to tie or take the lead, but Scalisi turned the ball over with nine seconds to go.

Parker Neuenhaus, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound sophomore transfer from Washington and Lee, sealed the game with two foul shots with 6.9 seconds to go. He finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds despite air-balling a free throw and a 3-point attempt earlier in the game.

"We gave up some key offensive rebounds that I thought were probably the difference, and (Neuenhaus) was a huge part of that," said RPI coach Mark Gilbride, whose team was beaten 14-4 on the offensive glass. "Their size caught up to us a little bit, whereas when we played them in the regular season, we were able to shoot well enough to stay ahead of that.

"Everything they did all year to get to this point was amazing. We had a lot of guys that were injured. Different people had to step up. We had a lot of close games (RPI entered 9-4 in games decided by nine points or fewer), and we came through."

The Engineers, who were led in scoring by Feeks (12 points), Kellen Driscoll (11), Yechiel Stewart (10) and Deppe (10), have all of their Sunday starters returning, but the loss marked the final college game for seniors Dylan Matchett, Nate Tawiah-Boateng, Zisi Blades and Chris Faughnan. Matchett missed more than a month of the season because of an injured knee.

Vassar, which won its second Liberty League title in school history, will learn its destination in the NCAA Division III Tournament on Monday afternoon.

"(They have) incredible discipline, one of the best defensive teams in the country," Mee said of RPI. "They have a bunch of really tough guys like Scalisi and Deppe. All their guys continue to compete and Matchett … whatever injury he did to be out and compete in this championship game, I have incredible respect for their him and their program."

This article originally published at RPI men's basketball team loses to Vassar in Liberty League championship game.