SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Skidmore College men's basketball team shook off a sluggish start to remain perfect in Liberty League play, defeating Union 70-58 at the Williamson Sports Center on Friday.
 
Skidmore moves to 3-0 in league play and 8-4 overall, while Union falls to 1-2 and 5-6 overall.
 
Guard Aldin Medjunain tallied his first double-double of the season, scoing 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field, adding a season-high 12 rebounds. Guard Edvinas Rupkus led all scorers with 25 points, adding eight rebounds and three steals. Forward Marcus Jackson tallied seven ppoints and five rebounds, while guard Chase Ta hit two big treys in the second half to finish with seven points and two assists.
 
Guard Wade McNamara paced the Dutchmen with a 22-point, 10-rebound double-double. Guard Deshon Burgess added 12 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks, but the Thoroughbreds made him work on the offensive end, shooting 3-for-15 from the field.
 
Union and Skidmore played to a draw through the game's first 14:36, with the Dutchmen forcing 11 Thoroughbred turnovers. From there, Skidmore came alive on offense. Coming off a timeout, Medunjanin fed guard Jack Morrow in the corner for a 3-pointer. After a missed basket on the other end, Medunanin knifed through the Union defense with the euro-step layup to push the lead to 31-23. Free throws by both teams led to the 32-25 halftime advantage by the Thoroughbreds.
 
In the second half, Union battled to take the lead. McNamara pilfered a pass and scored on the other end to even things out at 34. A minute later, the guard fought through traffic to finish with the and-one bucket to give Union its largest lead of the game at 37-34.
 
From there, the Skidmore bench helped regain control of the game. With 12:56 to go in regulation, Ta fed guard Jack Byrne on the wing, his 3-pointer giving Skidmore the 40-37 lead. After Union tied it, Ta hit one of his own, to retake the lead at 43-40. Ta capped off the Thoroughbreds' 7-2 spurt with a deep 3-pointer to give Skidmore the 47-42 lead. Skidmore pushed the lead to 11 on a few occasions, with both teams eventually trading buckets for the final 4:40 of regulation.
 
Skidmore had a strong effort on the defensive end, holding Union to 32.2 percent shooting from the field. The Thoroughbreds held a slim 39-37 rebounding advantage.
 
"That was a good league win for us," said Skidmore College men's basketball head coach Joseph Burke. "Union is really talented and can flat out score.  We challenged the guys the step up defensively and I thought we did that tonight. Wins don't have to be pretty and I thought tonight we won a bit ugly and that's okay."
 
"Tomorrow will be another tough challenge as RPI comes in here playing really well."
 
Skidmore will wrap-up the weekend as Rensselaer comes to town on Saturday at 4 p.m.