TROY, N.Y. – Despite a second-half surge, the Skidmore College men's basketball team suffered a 68-61 loss on the road at Rensselaer on Saturday.
 

• Skidmore bounced back from a 12-point halftime deficit and trailed again by 16 by the mid-way point of the second stanza before getting to within five down the stretch.
• After the Engineers hit 1-of-2 free throws with 1:59 remaining, the teams traded turnovers leading to a Skidmore foul and an RPI 1-and-1 with 1:09 left. The shooter missed, but an offensive rebound by Jonny Angbazo and an Avery Eugester made jumper in the paint gave the hosts a 64-56 cushion.
• Jake Walsh drilled a 3-pointer for Skidmore to back o within five with 52 seconds left. RPI got an offensive rebound on a ball out of bounds and swooshed all four of its free throws in the final 17 seconds to put it away.
• Walsh was Skidmore's leader with 19 points with four rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
• Joey Skorick scored 17 with five boards and three steals with a block.
• Aidan Roy had nine points and three steals.
• PJ Scalisi and Andrew Deppe had 17 points apiece to lead the Engineers. Angbazo put together a double-double on 13 points and 13 rebounds.
• RPI made 11 3-pointers on the afternoon. Active from long range, 45 out of RPI's 67 attempts (67.2 percent) were from deep. Scalisi drained five of them.
• The Engineers were just 25 percent (8-of-32) in the second half from the field.
• Skidmore shot 45.6 (26-of-57) from the field for the game, and finished 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from long range.
• Skidmore finished with a tight 30-25 edge in points in the paint while doubling up the Engineers, 10-5, in bench points.
• Skidmore slips to 4-14 and 2-10 in the Liberty League. RPI is 11-8 and 8-4 for a tie for second.
• From head coach Joe Burke: "The guys battled. We had good energy and they gave themselves a chance to win a hard game on the road. We just needed to be a little better and a little tougher in the last couple minutes. These guys are learning that there is a fine line between winning and losing in league play." 

NEXT UP: After six road games, the Thoroughbreds return home next weekend for games against Ithaca and Bard.