PURCHASE, NY – The Skidmore College men's college team bounced back into the win column with a gritty 58-50 road opener victory over Purchase College on Saturday afternoon.

In a defensive matchup in which both teams were limited to under 38 percent shooting from the field alongside a combined 40 turnovers committed, it was the Thoroughbreds (2-2) that took advantage of a 20-7 scoring run midway in the second half to upend the Panthers (1-4) for the first road win of the season.

Led by a pair of double-digit scorers in freshman Jacob Gooden and senior Charlie Weisberg, both of whom finished with ten, Skidmore also won the possession battle after forcing 23 turnovers and out-rebounding Purchase by a narrow 43-40 margin.

"Winning on the road is difficult. I thought we played a hard nosed second half today and showed some grit especially late to pull that one out," said head coach Joe Burke.
 
"We had some bench guys really step up. I think that's the beauty of this team. We have a lot of depth; it can be a lot of different guys each night. This will also allow us to keep challenging each other in practice as we continue to improve."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After Purchase took an early 8-4 lead, the Thoroughbreds strung together a 15-5 scoring burst that was kickstarted by five points from Weisberg, alongside forcing six turnovers, to take a 19-13 lead at the 7:41 mark of the first half.
• Making a run of their own, the Panthers closed out the half outscoring Skidmore by a 12-4 margin, punctuated by a go-ahead three-pointer with 50 seconds left to retake the lead at 25-23 at halftime.  
• Building off the strong close to the first half, Purchase came out firing out of intermission to eventually extend the lead up to 38-32 at the 12:27 mark.
• Led by six quick points from sophomore Will Ameden, Skidmore battled back on a 12-5 burst that was capped by a pair of layups from Gooden to retake the lead at 44-43 with 8:24 on the clock.
• The momentum didn't end there, as the Thoroughbreds extended the scoring run to 20-7 to build the lead up to 52-45 with 5:33 left.
• When the Panthers pulled within one possession, junior Aidan Roy knocked down a run-stopping three-pointer off the dish from Gooden to extend the lead back up to six, 55-49, with 2:46 left on the clock – which ultimately proved to be enough to hold on for the victory.
• Playing a big role in Skidmore's strong close to the game, sophomore Jack LaGarde came up big with five blocks in the second half to shut down the Panthers offense down the stretch.

STANDOUT THOROUGHBREDS

• Gooden finished with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.
• Weisberg dropped a team best 10 points off the bench.
• Roy stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.
• Wertz tallied nine points with seven rebounds.
• LaGarde tied his career high with six blocks to go with eight rebounds and four points.

UP NEXT
Skidmore returns to the court on December 1 to take on Norwich University in a road matchup. Tip-off is set for 6 PM.