SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – Led by 21 points from sophomore Charlie Fantom, the Skidmore College men's basketball team earned a much-needed first win of the season in a lopsided 85-57 blowout of Alfred State on Friday evening.

Using a complete team performance in every sense, the Thoroughbreds (1-2) finished with four double-digit scorers and shot an efficient 10-of-22 from the three-point line, while also limiting the Pioneers (0-3) to a poor 30.5% shooting from the field on the other end of the court.

"Our focus everyday has been to try and get better as a group, that being said I think we all needed that win and we needed to do it that way. It wasn't perfect but it was a complete effort on both ends and I was happy with the level intensity and execution," said head coach Joe Burke.  

As I keep saying about this group, their ceiling is really high. We haven't come close to hitting the halfway point of it. We need to continue to push ourselves to be better, work harder and learn and grow from each experience on the court."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a closely contested start to the game saw the Thoroughbreds hold a narrow 18-16 lead at the 7:46 mark of the first half, the home team broke things open with an extensive 21-9 run the rest of the way to enter halftime holding a 14-point advantage, 39-25.
• The Pioneers kicked off the second half by displaying some shot making to cut the lead down to seven after undergoing a quick 11-4 run through the first three minutes.
• Skidmore immediately responded with seven straight points of their own to once again push the lead back up to 14 points at the 14:19 mark and never looked back, as the Thoroughbreds eventually ballooned the lead to as high as 31 points with just 2:14 remaining to go.

STANDOUT THOROUGHBREDS

• Alongside his team-high 21 points, Fantom was also tied for most with eight rebounds and had the most steals at three. The sophomore also drained five three-pointers.
• Sophomore Aidan Roy scored 14 points to go alongside a team-high six assists.
• Senior Alexei Downie had 13 points and eight boards on an efficient 6-of-11 shooting.
• Coming off the bench, junior Prince Shyllon scored 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting that included a pair of three pointers to help ignite Skidmore's extensive run to end the first half.

UP NEXT
Skidmore is back on the court on Wednesday to host SUNY Potsdam at 7:30 PM.