Box Score

Castleton, Vt. - Five players scored in double figures to lead the Skidmore College men's basketball to a 108-99 OT victory over Castleton, Tuesday night at Glenbrook Gym.

The Thoroughbreds improve to 4-1, while the Spartans fall to 2-4.

Brian Lowry scored a team-high 19 points, while freshman Connor Merrill added 17 and John Mantas had 16, both off the bench.  Terron Victoria tallied 15 and Gerard O'Shea poured in 13. 

Greg Hughes had a game-high 28 points and Mark Comstock finished with 21 for Castleton.  Tyler Ackley recorded 14 and Dammy Mustapha added 13.

The Thoroughbreds took a 94-92 lead with just 11 seconds left after a free throw from Victoria, but Hughes found Matt Cooney for the game-tying layup with 2.4 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

In the extra period, Skidmore took control, draining a triple on their first possession and holding Castleton without a bucket for the final three minutes on their way to the 108-99 win.

The first 20 minutes was game of runs. The Spatans started hot, jumping out to the 16-6 lead just 5:06 into the contest. The Thoroughbreds got back in it, going on an impressive 32-8 run over the next seven minutes to push their lead up to 38-24 with 7:54 left. The Spartans countered over the next six minutes by outscoring their opponents 27-9 and taking back the lead, 51-47. However, Skidmore scored twice in the final minute of play to tie it up at 51 at the break.

There were nine lead changes in the second half, as neither team could gain the upper hand. In the waning minutes though, it was the Thoroughbreds who made the first move, breaking an 86-86 tie with a 5-0 run.

Skidmore shot 57% from the floor and held a 50-35 advantage on the glass, while outscoring the Castelton bench, 47-14.

"I thought we showed a lot of perseverance down the stretch. We didn't have a lot of things going our way but we made enough plays to win" said coach Joe Burke.

"They play such a unique style and its tough to prepare for them in a day. It really just came down to playing with great energy with multiple guys.  I thought the contributions from the bench were huge."


The Thoroughbreds host #1 Middlebury on Friday at 8 p.m.