Additional SENIOR DAY photos at end...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.—The Skidmore College men's basketball team finished first in the Liberty League regular season with a 73-70 Senior Day win over St. Lawrence University, Sunday evening at the Williamson Center.
 
It's the second straight first place finish for the Thoroughbreds (16-8, 11-5 Liberty League) who are defending Liberty League champions.  St. Lawrence (13-11, 9-7) will also make the tournament, dropping to third.
 
Skidmore will host Vassar in one semifinal on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Union will host St. Lawrence in the other semifinal on Wednesday.  The championship game is Saturday at the highest remaining seed.
 
The Thoroughbreds will be playing for their fourth Liberty League championship in the past six seasons.
 
Edvinas Rupkus led five Skidmore players in double figures with 20 points to go along with seven rebounds, three assists, a block, and three steals. Former Albany Academy teammates Jack Morrow and Marcus Jackson hit for 12 and 10 points respectively. Morrow was 4-5 from three-point range. Royce Paris scored 12 points and had six assists, while Erik Sanders contributed 10 points.
 
Kyle Edwards led the Saints with 19 points. Willie Zachary scored 14 points to go along with six assists and Ben Crawford added 13 points.
 
The game stayed tight throughout with eight lead changes and four ties.
 
Up 39-36 at the half, the Saints were able to extend their led to six 51-45 on a Chris Miner layup with 14:27 to play. SLU got the ball back on a turnover, but failed to make it a three possession game.
 
Skidmore took advantage and went on to score the next nine points on the way to a 17-2 run and 62-53 lead with 9:37 to play. Morrow sparked the run by hitting three straight three-pointers for nine of the runs first 12 points. Jackson capped it with a power move inside off a Rupkus offensive board.
 
The Saints were able to work their way back into it. Cutting the Thoroughbred lead to 71-70 on a layup by Riley Naclerio with 19 seconds to play.  Paris hit a pair of clutch free throws with 13.5 seconds left to get it 73-70.   St. Lawrence wasn't able to get a good look, with a final three point attempt from the corner missing in the final second.
 
Skidmore's bench outscored SLU 40-9. The Thoroughbreds also had better success from beyond the arc, hitting 11-25 (44%) threes, while the Saints were 4-18 (22.2%).

COACH BURKE:
I am really proud of this group. Many people questioned how good we can be when we lost our All-American point guard  and captain to a season ending injury yet it did not phase these guys. Our new faces really embraced the opportunity and I thought are veterans raised their level of play and leadership. I always believed winning a regular season conference title is the most difficult challenge and this group found a way and to do it on Senior Day.

Doolun, Nick, Isaac and Flip have meant so much to me and this program. For the exception of Flip you won't see their contributions in the stat line but we feel it in the locker room and in practice every day.  I am really happy for them.

As exciting as today was I know this group wants to keep going. We have not hit our peak yet and we will get back to work and prepare for another hard game on Wednesday. At this point everybody you play is good so we will certainly have a challenge on our hands.