Second-seeded Hobart College will take on third-seeded Ithaca College in the Liberty League Men's Basketball Tournament semifinals hosted by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. The game will be played at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 29 in East Campus Arena.
 
WHWS-FM (105.7) will broadcast the game live in the Geneva area. Streaming video and live stats will be available on rpiathletics.com.
 
The Statesmen finished the regular season with a 21-4 overall record. Only two times in program history has Hobart won more games in a season, the 2011-12 team was 23-6 and the 2013-14 Statesmen were 22-7.
 
Hobart has made its mark on defense this season. The Statesmen lead the nation in field goal percentage defense (.366), 3-point field goal percentage defense (.270) and rebound margin (12.6). Hobart is fourth in scoring defense (61.2 ppg).
 
The Statesmen have won three in a row and nine of their past 10 games entering the tournament. Hobart's lineup features five players averaging between 8 and 14 points per game. Senior Tucker Lescoe, who scored a career-high 38 points on a Hobart game record 12 3-pointers in Saturday's Senior Day win over Skidmore, leads the team at 13.7 ppg. He's made a career-high 78 3-pointers this year, one shy of Michael Gambino's 20-year-old Statesmen record.
 
Sophomore Jackson Meshanic adds 12.9 ppg and 6.5 rpg. Sophomore Dan Masino is producing 12.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg and a team-high 3.5 apg. First-year Daniel Cook has started 22 of 23 games in his rookie campaign, notching 9.3 ppg and 5.9 rpg. Senior Edens Fleurizard paces Hobart on the glass, averaging 8.7 rpg, 8.3 ppg and 1.5 blocked shots per game.
 
Hobart and Ithaca tied for second place in the Liberty League standings with 15-3 league marks, but the Statesmen got the bye to the semifinal round by virtue of its regular season sweep of the Bombers. Hobart won the first meeting in Ithaca 74-65 and took the rematch in Geneva 78-77. In the latter contest, Lescoe was fouled on a desperation shot from the free throw line with just 0.8 seconds remaining. He sank both shots to lift the Statesmen to victory.
 
Saturday's game will be the 91st meeting between the two programs and the first in the Liberty League Tournament. The Bombers lead the overall series 53-37, but the Statesmen have won nine in a row since the start of the 2013-14 season.
 
Ithaca improved to 21-5 with a 64-54 win over sixth-seeded St. Lawrence in the tournament's first round Tuesday. The Bombers feature the Liberty League's No. 1 scoring offense (85.0 ppg). Senior guards Riley Thompson and Sebastian Alderete are averaging 18.5 ppg and 16.6 ppg, respectively, to lead Ithaca. Alderete is also the team's top rebounder at 6.3 rpg. Sophomore guard Skylar Sinon adds 15.0 ppg and a team-high 4.3 apg.
 
Top-seeded RPI (22-3) will host fourth-seeded Union (16-9) in the first semifinal at 2 p.m. The Dutchmen beat fifth-seeded Vassar 72-62 in the first round.
 
Hobart is seeking the program's fourth Liberty League Tournament championship and first since 2014.