TROY, N.Y. – The Skidmore College men's basketball team were unable to hold on to a second half lead, as RPI utilized a 23-4 run to grab a 75-70 victory, in Liberty League action at the East Campus Arena Saturday afternoon.

Skidmore falls to 9-8 overall and is 5-6 in league action. RPI improves to 10-8 overall and sit in a tie with Skidmore in the league standings with a 5-6 record. The teams split the season series, after the Thoroughbreds defeated the Engineers 76-56 in Saratoga Springs on Jan. 5.
 
Chase Ta equaled his season high with 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the field, adding six rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Edvinas Rupkus was accurate from the field, making 5-of-9 shots from the field to pick up 19 points, adding five rebounds. Jack Byrne ended with 14 points, seven rebounds, and two steals. The Thoroughbreds shot 49 percent from the field in the contest, hitting 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from downtown.
 
Tom Horvat led RPI with 30 points and four assists. Andreas Kontopidis tallied 13 points and nine rebounds, but had to work offensively, making 3-of-11 shots from the field. Asa Barnhill finished with 10 points. The Engineers shot 35.9 percent from the field in the game, but was an efficient 15-for-16 from the charity stripe.

"We competed and controlled tempo for awhile but we ran out of bullets late," said head coach Joe Burke. " We need another good week of practice and hopefully get some guys back to give us some depth. Plenty of basketball to be played and so much to be decided. We certainly are happy this seven-game conference road trip is finally over."
 
The Thoroughbreds came out with a strong first-half effort, scoring the first seven points of the game and jumping out to an early 14-2 run. Skidmore spent the entire first half ahead, leading by as many as 15 points (28-13) at one point. After Byrne hit a 3-pointer to take a 33-19 lead with 21 seconds left, Horvat answered with a trey of his own to beat the halftime buzzer, with the Thoroughbreds taking a 33-22 lead into the half.
 
The second half saw Skidmore score the first four points, getting the lead to 15 once again. Then came the RPI run, which saw the Engineers grab its first lead of the game at 41-40, on a Horvat jumper at the 12:28 mark. Marcus Jackson answered for Skidmore with a layup in the paint on the next possession, but Patrick Mahoney gave RPI one final lead change, as the Engineers stretched their lead to seven.
 
Skidmore made a few final pushes. The first was a 6-0 run, as RPI held on to a narrow 52-51 lead at the 7:14 mark. After RPI pushed the lead to its highest at 66-56, Rupkus scored five straight points to cut the lead in half, at the 1:35 mark. After a made three by RPI, Skidmore got it back to five on a Benny Louchheim trey with 57 seconds left in regulation. From there, the Engineers converted from the free throw line, making six straight free throws to hold off the Thoroughbred push.
 
Skidmore returns home next weekend for the first time in nearly a month, hosting Ithaca from the Williamson Center on Friday at 8 p.m.