SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It was a bounce-back effort for the Skidmore College men's basketball team, leading wire-to-wire in a resounding 94-54 victory over Vassar, in Liberty League action at the Williamson Sports Center Wednesday evening.
Skidmore (5-3, 3-0 Liberty League) starts the league season with a 3-0 record for the third straight season. Vassar (3-5, 1-2 Liberty League) drops its second consecutive game.
Skidmore tallied its highest point total of the season (95), its largest margin of victory (40), and the most made 3-pointers (15) in a game. The Thoroughbreds tied a season-best with 10 steals and 20 assists.
Sophomore guard
Noah Meren led the way with 23 points, adding five rebounds, four assists, and a career-best five steals. Senior guard
Edvinas Rupkus added 19 points, shooting 8-for-12 from the field and 3-for-7 from beyond the arc. He added six rebounds. Fellow senior guard
Chase Ta added 13 points, making 3-of-4 shots from deep. He added four rebounds and five assists. Senior guard
Jack Byrne added nine points off the bench, adding five rebounds and two steals. 11 out of 12 Skidmore players scored, including the first career points from freshman guard/forward
Adam DeFranc.
Paul Grinde led Vassar with 13 points, four rebounds, and two blocked shots. Alex Seff added 11.
"I was really pleased with the effort and execution," said head coach
Joe Burke. "We had to do some soul searching after our game Saturday, we are a better team than what we showed up there. We came home and had two really good days of practice and I thought it carried over tonight. We played 40 minutes of basketball."
The energy displayed from Skidmore was apparent from the start, jumping out to a 17-5 lead in the first two minutes. Vassar brought it back down to single digits (24-16) after a Seff 3-pointer and a free throw by Zach Bromfeld with 8:28 to go in the opening half. Off a missed free throw on the back end, Skidmore brought it back up to double-digits, thanks to a 3-pointer by Ta. He would pick Vassar guard David Stevenson's pocket on the next possession, leading to a Meren jumper. After another steal, this time by Byrne, Meren would score on the driving layup, pushing Skidmore's lead to 31-16.
The Thoroughbreds would finish the half with a flurry, scoring seven points in the last 44 seconds, capped off with a Byrne steal off the inbounds pass with two seconds left, pulling up for a deep 3-pointer, beating the buzzer and sending Skidmore to the locker room with a 45-22 halftime lead. The Thoroughbreds converted 12 first-half points off turnovers off of eight Vassar turnovers, and shot 50 percent (18-for-36) from the field.
The second half saw Skidmore push its lead up to 27 points (53-26), before Vassar knocked it down to 21 on a pair of Kyle Kappes 3-pointers. The Brewers would not get any closer than 21, as Skidmore used an 11-0 run midway through the second half to put the game out of reach. Skidmore would lead by as many as 42 points before the margin settled at 40.
Skidmore will take a holiday break, returning to action on Jan. 4 in a visit to Capital region foe RPI at 7 p.m.
