SCHENECTADY, NY – Five players scored in double figures led by Connor Merrill's 19 as Skidmore defeated Westfield State, 78-68 in a come from behind victory in the Sig Makofski Invitational at Union College's Viniar Athletic Center.

The Thoroughbreds outscored the Owls 49-32 in the second half. Erik Sanders scored 16 with five assists and Aldin Medunjanin tallied 15 with five assists and seven rebounds. Merrill had a team high eight rebounds. Nanribet  Yiljep jand Perun Kovacevic scored 11 each. Skidmore shot a blistering 71% in the second half, making 17 of 24 shots, and shot 55% for the game. Medunjanin was selected to the all-tournament team.

Andre King scored 14 with 10 rebounds and Grant Cooper scored 14 with six boards for Westfield State. Dan Johnson scored 12 points and Jose Allen tallied 10. The Owls shot 37% for the night and both teams pulled down 31 rebounds.

Westfield jumped out to a 26-8 lead with 7:47 left in the first after a three pointer by Jose Allen. But Skidmore got as close as six with 1:16 left and entered the half down by seven. In the first 4:49 of the second half, the Thoroughbreds went on a 19-1 run featuring five points each by Sanders and Medunjanin. The game was tied at 48-48 with 12:24 left and Skidmore opened up a 14 points lead at 71-47 with 3:21 to play, never trailing by less then 10 for the rest of the night.

" I'm really proud of the guys today." said Skidmore coach Joe Burke.  "We had a ton of adversity in the last two weeks and fell behind early in this game. Could have been easy to give in but we dug deep and found a way against a good athletic 5-1 team.

"Games like this can tell you a lot about your character and leadership. I now know we are in a good place with both of those. We look forward to keep getting better and prepare for another great team on Saturday."

Skidmore returns to action December 6 at Middlebury.