GREENSBORO, N.C. – A late Guilford run was too much for the 18^th-ranked Skidmore College men's basketball team, as it fell in non-league action to the Quakers by an 80-77 score at the Ragan Brown Field House Saturday afternoon.
 
Skidmore ends the 2017 calendar year and the non-conference slate with a 6-2 record overall. Guilford improves to 5-6.
 
After leading for much of the first half by as many as 12 points, Guilford made its move after halftime, taking a 55-47 lead at the 15:13 mark. The game seesawed back and forth with 11 ties and 11 lead changes. An 8-0 run by the Thoroughbreds tied the game at 55, taking its first lead of the second half, 60-59, on a Jack Byrne 3-pointer at the 9:53 mark.
 
With the game in its final stages, Edvinas Rupkus nailed a 3-pointer with 2:48 to go, giving the Thoroughbreds a 73-69 lead. Guilford would answer with six straight points to take a 75-73 advantage. Rupkus would respond down the stretch, hitting a jumper to tie the game at 77 with 34 seconds to go. On Guilford's next possession, Marcus Curry hit a jumper of his own to give the Quakers a 79-77 advantage with just five seconds left.
 
The Thoroughbreds looked to send the game into overtime, but Chase Ta's attempt was blocked by the Quakers, and Guilford split a pair of free throws for the final margin.
 
Rupkus would tally a season-high 32 points on a scorching 11-for-14 from the field and 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. He added three assists and three rebounds. Byrne also tallied a season-high for scoring coming off the bench, scoring 17 points, making five 3-pointers. Ta and Pat Gallagher chipped in seven points apiece.
 
Joah Logan led Guilford with 22 points, with Quaker hero Curry adding 20 points and eight rebounds.
 
The Thoroughbreds shot 52.8 percent from the field despite the loss, and made 13 3-pointers, shooting it at a .464 clip.
 
"We knew this would be a hard game to win and realized there would be a number of obstacles," said head coach Joe Burke. "For the most part, I thought we did some good things, but quite often you need to win by 20 to eventually win by two when you go out and play a game like this. Ultimately, we had a few things not go our way at the very end. This was a tremendously long break we just came back from. Hopefully we work out the kinks heading into conference play."
 
It's Liberty League basketball from here on out for the Thoroughbreds, beginning 2018 with what should be a good matchup at the Williamson Sports Center against local foe RPI, next Friday, Jan. 5 at 8 p.m.