Box Score

Saratoga Springs, N.Y. – Terron Victoria completed a three-point play with 24 seconds remaining to put the Skidmore College men's basketball team up for good and helped lift them to a dramatic 74-71 win over Castleton, Tuesday night at the Williamson Sports Center.

 

With the win, the Thoroughbreds improve to 5-2, while the Spartans fall to 2-4.

 

Victoria (Albany, N.Y.) hit a three with 1:12 remaining to tie it at 69-69 and tied it up again at 71-71 as he drove hard to the hoop to lay it in and  drew the foul, hitting his free throw to complete the three-point play and give the Thoroughbreds the lead.

 

Melvis Langyintuo (Tamale, Ghana) led the Skidmore charge down the stretch, scoring 15 of his game-high 22 points in the final nine minutes including a stretch of just under seven minutes in which he scored 13 straight points for the Thoroughbreds. He pushed the lead to 74-71, sinking a pair of free throws with three seconds remaining and Jared Paul's final attempt for Castleton hit the back of the rim and gave Skidmore the win.

 

The Thoroughbreds took a 42-37 lead into halftime, but the Spartans chipped away. After Dylan Malloy's (Holden, Mass.) three-pointer with 13:38 remaining gave Skidmore a four point lead, Castleton went on an 11-0 run to grab a 57-50 lead with just under 10 minutes left.

 

With 3:33 remaining, The Thoroughbreds took the lead back on a Langyintuo three, but Castleton was able to take the lead right back after a Keith Schneider layup and a pair of jumpers from Mike Knight put them back up by five. After another basket from Langyintuo, Victoria tied it up with his three-pointer as Skidmore outscored the Spartans 10-2 over the final 1:52 to earn the 74-71 win.

"I am very proud of our resiliency, there were multiple times where we could have given in tonight and in the end we were able to get the job done," said Skidmore coach Joe Burke. "I was extremely impressed with Castleton, they are really well coached and extremely disciplined. I thought it was a hard fought win.

"Contributions from Melvis and Dylan really lifted this team and I thought Terron made some big plays for us at the end," Burke added. "This has been a very tough stretch for us, we have four games in seven days and we have a very good Trinity team coming in on Friday. We can enjoy the win but need to shift our focus when we wake up tomorrow"
 

Jeff Altimar (Medfield, Mass.) had 15 points and John Mantas (Niskayuna, N.Y.) had a game-high seven assists for the Thoroughbreds. Victoria finished with eight points and six assists.

 

Paul led the way for Castleton with 21 points, while Mike Knight added 10 points.

 

Both teams shot the ball well as Skidmore finished 25-46 (54.3%) from the field and 10-19 (52.6%) from beyond the arc and the Spartans shot 26-47 (55.3%) for the game.

 

Skidmore closes out its fall semester on Friday, when they host Trinity for a 7 p.m. tip-off.