SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Rensselaer used a balanced offense and timely first-half defense on the way to a 68-60 Liberty League men's basketball win over Skidmore College Saturday evening at the Williamson Center.
 
The loss drops the Thoroughbreds to 10-7 overall and 5-4 in the Liberty League.  RPI wins back-to-back league games for the first time this season to improve to 9-7 and 3-4.
 
Skidmore's Erik Sanders had his third double/double of the season with a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds.  Edvinas Rupkus scored 15 points, 11 in the second half, to go along with three assists and four steals.  Jack Byrne and Charlie Williams scored six each.
 
Rensselaer played seven players, with five scoring in double figures. Tyler Gendron scored 13 off the bench and had seven boards and three assists. Nate Kane and Jonathan Luster added 11 points each, while Nate Kane and Asa Barnhill contributed 10 apiece.  Marcus Giese pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
The game was tight in the first half, with the Thoroughbreds taking a six point lead, 21-15 on a Williams three-pointer with 8:17 to play.  The Engineers responded by holding Skidmore scoreless for the next 7:01, while going on a 10-0 run to open a 25-21 lead that extended to 27-23 at the half. Four different players contributed to the RPI rally.
 
The Engineers led by as many as 14 in the second half, behind some timely three-point shooting. RPI hit five of its first eight second half three attempts to lead 50-36 with 9:18 to play.  Skidmore was able to cut it to seven on a Byrne three-pointer with :46 left, but RPI went six-for-six from the line over the final :39 to secure the 68-60 win.
 
Skidmore opens a five-game road stint on Jan. 29 at Hobart. RPI travels to RIT the same day. Both games are at 8 p.m.

COACH BURKE:
Credit RPI, I thought they were ready to play tonight and we clearly we were not. Part of the growing process for this group will be to figure out how to bring max effort when we play 2 days in a row.

You only get a certain amount of opportunities in your career, unfortunately we won't get that one back. We need to keep learning and prepare for what will be a difficult road weekend ahead.