Saratoga Springs, N.Y.— The Skidmore College men's basketball team held on to a share of first place with a 92-80 Liberty League win over Rensselaer, Friday night at the Sports and Recreation Center.

The 14-8 Thoroughbreds are in a four-way tie for first with a 7-4 Liberty League record. RPI falls to 13-7 and 5-5.

Rensselaer led 41-40 after a tight first half that featured 10 lead changes and four ties, but it was all Skidmore in the second.

The Thoroughbreds came out of the break with a 15-4 run to open a 10-point lead, 55-45 with 13:47 to play.  The Engineers were unable to cut into the deficit over the final 10 minutes, with Skidmore leading by as many as 17 down the stretch.

Terron Victoria(Albany, N.Y./Bishop Maginn),  John Mantas(Niskayuna, N.Y./CBA),  and Jeff Altimar(Medfield, Mass./Medfield) each hit threes during the run, with Victoria also scoring on a lay-up. 

Skidmore's defense frustrated RPI with the Thoroughbreds scoring 26 points off 15 Engineer turnovers.

Brian Lowry(West Hartford, Conn./St. George's School) led a group of four Skidmore players in double figures with 16 points off the bench.  Altimar finished with 13 points, while Jon Douglas(Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional) scored 10 and Gerard O'Shea(West Sand Lake, N.Y./Averill Park) added 11 points, four steals, and three assists.

Mantas had a career-high nine assists, while Sakhile Sithole(Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) scored nine points and had a team-high eight rebounds off the bench.

Tim Rupp (Staten Island, N.Y./Curtis) led RPI with 16 points and eight rebounds. Ricky Philatre (Randolph, Mass./Randolph) finished with 12 points and Jeremy Bull (Woodbridge, Virg./St. Stephens & St. Agnes) scored 11.

Skidmore plays its final regular-season home game on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Vassar.   Rensselaer is at Union at 4 p.m.

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Newspaper Box Score

Rensselaer vs Skidmore College

2/12/10 8pm at Sports&Rec Center, Saratoga Springs, NY

At Sports&Rec Center, Saratoga Springs, NY

SKIDMORE COLLEGE 92, RENSSELAER 80

RENSSELAER (13-7,5-5)

Tim Rupp 7-11 2-3 16; Ricky Philatre 4-5 4-4 12; Jeremy Bull 4-5 2-2 11;

Mike Brion 3-8 1-3 9; DJ Blakemore 2-5 5-6 9; Daniel Martin 3-6 1-3 7; Ike

Rodriguez 2-2 2-2 6; Travis Jones 2-5 2-3 6; Andrew Darst 1-1 0-0 2; Rashad

Simmons 1-2 0-0 2; Jamie Zajac 0-0 0-0 0; Jeremy Colon 0-6 0-0 0; Eric

Anderson 0-1 0-2 0; Mike Hammond 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-57 19-28 80.

SKIDMORE COLLEGE (14-8, 7-4)

Brian Lowry 4-6 5-8 16; Jeff Altimar 4-7 2-2 13; Gerard O'Shea 2-4 6-6 11;

Jon Douglas 4-7 0-0 10; Sakhile Sithole 3-6 3-4 9; Melvis Langyintuo 4-7 0-0

9; John Mantas 2-3 2-2 7; Terron Victoria 3-8 0-0 7; Bobby Langford 2-3 0-0

4; Kyle Clark 2-3 0-1 4; Raoul Oloa 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 31-57 18-23 92.

Rensselaer....................   41   39  -   80

Skidmore College..............   40   52  -   92

3-point goals--Rensselaer 3-9 (Mike Brion 2-4; Jeremy Bull 1-1; Travis Jones

0-2; Rashad Simmons 0-1; Tim Rupp 0-1), Skidmore College 12-22 (Brian Lowry

3-4; Jeff Altimar 3-5; Jon Douglas 2-4; Terron Victoria 1-2; Melvis

Langyintuo 1-3; Gerard O'Shea 1-1; John Mantas 1-1; Raoul Oloa 0-1; Sakhile

Sithole 0-1). Fouled out--Rensselaer-None, Skidmore College-None.

Rebounds--Rensselaer 36 (Daniel Martin 8; Tim Rupp 8), Skidmore College 26

(Sakhile Sithole 8). Assists--Rensselaer 10 (Tim Rupp 3), Skidmore College

20 (John Mantas 9). Total fouls--Rensselaer 21, Skidmore College 21.

Technical fouls--Rensselaer-None, Skidmore College-None. A-475