TROY, N.Y.--- Skidmore led from start to finish on the way to a 70-53 win over top seed Rensselaer in the Liberty League semifinals Saturday afternoon at the ECAV Arena.
 
The Thoroughbreds will face the winner of the Vassar-Ithaca semifinal in Sunday's 2 p.m. championship game at RPI. Skidmore will be playing for its sixth title in 11 seasons.
 
Skidmore had four players in double figures. Tautvydas Kupstas led the way with 26 points. Ty Lamport and Greg Skoric scored 14 each, while Riley Greene added 10 points and five assists.
 
Skoric pulled down his school-record 300^th rebound of the season the 3:17 mark of the first half. The junior center has 308 for the year. He ranked fifth nationally with 19 double/doubles.
 
Mason Memmelaer led RPI with 22 points and nine rebounds. Will Rubin scored 11.
 
The Thoroughbreds got out of the gate early using a 13-0 run to go up 20-6 with 11:22 to play. Kupstas had five of his 15 first half points during the run. The Engineer national leading defense held Skidmore off the board for the next 5:46 seconds, while cutting the score to 20-14. The Thoroughbreds regrouped and took a 34-24 lead into the half.
 
Skidmore opened the second half with a 12-4 for a 46-28 lead with 16:10 left. RPI quickly came back with a 10-0 run make it 46-38 with 13:48 left. The Thoroughbreds settled in taking a 61-49 lead on a Kupstas layup at 5:11 and kept the double digit lead the rest of the way.
 
All of Skidmore's scoring came from the starting five. The Engineers only had eight bench points.
 
"Once again just really happy for our players," said Skidmore coach Joe Burke. "You know, going into the year we felt really good about this team. As most seasons go there are plenty of highs and lows but this group was really dealt a lot of hits along the way.  I just continue to be proud of them.
 
"All year I felt like we should be in the championship game tomorrow if we could get healthy, so I don't think anybody is surprised.  I think we're where we are supposed to be now the job is to go out and finish it tomorrow."
 
The Thoroughbreds have won Liberty League titles in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2019. No other current league member has more than four titles.