Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 13, 2009) -- Senior guard Lenny Holt (Watertown, MA/Watertown) connected on a driving layup with 12 seconds remaining  as the Vassar men's basketball team rallied for a 74-73 victory over Skidmore College Friday evening.

Vassar improves to 8-13, 3-7, and stays in the Liberty League playoff race with four games remaining, while Skidmore falls to 7-15, 2-9. The Brewers host Union tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.on Senior Day, while Skidmore travels to RPI to take on the Red Hawks at the same time.

Two weeks after Skidmore blew open a close game against Vassar with a 17-point unanswered run, the Thoroughbreds again caught fire late. Skidmore overcame a 16-point first half deficit to take their first lead with just over five minutes to play in the game. They would extend that lead to seven, 71-64, with 3:16 to play, but were unable to hold off the feisty Brewers in the closing minutes.

With 11:01 to go in the second half a 3-pointer by freshman Melvis Langyintuo (Tamale, Ghana/The Lawrenceville School) made the score 58-56 Vassar -- the closest Skidmore had been since four minutes into the game. Less than two minutes later, a three-pointer by sophomore Jeff Altimar (Medfield, MA/Medfield) cut the lead to one.

With 5:17 remaining, Skidmore finally grabbed the lead for the first time. Langyintuo stole the ball at mid-court, went in for a fast break lay-up, and was fouled. He missed the and-one opportunity, but the Thoroughbreds still took a 65-64 lead. They would extend their lead to 71-64 before Vassar scored again. Senior Joe Davis (East Amherst, NY/St. Joseph's Institute) scored a fast break lay-up with less than 3 minutes remaining to end a scoreless run of nearly seven minutes for the Brewers.

Senior Jake Shechtman (Wynnewood, PA/The Shipley School) kept the Thoroughbreads close with three treys in a 46-second span with eight minutes remaining in the half.

Altimar led Skidmore in scoring with 15, freshman Terron Victoria (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) had 12 points, and Langyintuo was also in double-figures with 10.