SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Skidmore College men's basketball team was unable to get the ball to go down in crunch time in a 72-71 Liberty League opening loss to Clarkson on Friday evening.
 

• Skidmore (2-4, 0-1 Liberty League) featured strong performances all around, with three first-year players in double figures and a first-career double-double (17 points, 14 rebounds) by Jack LaGarde,who also finished the game with six blocks and three steals to lead Skidmore on both ends of the court.
• Nick Padilla, who scored 16 points for Skidmore, put up a potential game-winning jumper as the clock expired, but it hit the rim and staid out for the Clarkson one-point win.
• Clarkson (5-1, 1-0 Liberty League) broke a 68-all tie with a Finn Cork basket with 76 seconds remaining. LaGarde then hit on 1-of-2 free throws to cut the deficit to one before Braeden Burns completed a 3-point play on a reverse layup giving the Golden Knights a 72-69 lead.
• Aidan Roy, who scored 17 points for the Thoroughbreds, scored two on a nifty left-handed lay-in and drew a foul with 12.6 seconds remaining, but was unable to complete the potential 3-point play.
• On the other end, a missed front end of a 1-and-1 for Clarkson with a Joey Skoric rebound gave Skidmore the ball back with 5.1 seconds remaining. The Thoroughbreds got a look at the winner after Clarkson fouled with 1.3 seconds left but Skidmore not yet in the bonus.
• The in-bound went to Padilla, who sprinted toward the baseline and pulled up for a mid-range jumper from the short corner. It hit the front of the rim and bounced away from the hoop.
• Skidmore had the lead for a majority of the first half before the second period seesaw featured nine lead changes.
• Tight in most statistical categories, Skidmore picked up a 28-13 edge in bench points while it was the guests who earned 31 second-chance points to Skidmore's 16.
• Ryan Miles-Ferguson was the leader for the Golden Knights with a 20-point, 11 rebound night. Burns had 15 points.
• From Joe Burke: "In conference games every possession matters. All week we talked about the difference in league and non-league and what it means. We came up one possession short tonight and for most of these guys this is their first rodeo in league. We will get better from it, but you have to credit Clarkson., I thought they made more hustle plays than us and that ultimately proved to be the difference. A lot to be said for experience early on in the year and we have to continue gain more and more each night. I'm confident we will."

NEXT UP: Skidmore rounds out the home weekend on Saturday at 4 p.m. against St. Lawrence.