SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – The Skidmore College men's basketball team wrapped up the weekend home stand with a 96-70 setback to Ithaca at the Williamson Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.

Freshman Jacob Gooden again led the way with another strong scoring performance, finishing with 18 points and helping the Thoroughbreds (4-3, 1-1 Liberty League) stay within striking distance throughout the first half of play. However, the Bombers (2-5, 1-1 Liberty League) turned up the tempo after the break and pulled away to hand Skidmore the first conference loss of the season.

"We will want to burn the tape of that one, but we are not going to. We have to learn from it and understand how difficult it is to win on back-to-back nights," said head coach Joe Burke.

"Ithaca has played a tough schedule and their record was not indicative of their talent. They came in here played with urgency and desperation and we did not match it. We will learn from it and move on. Our next 7 games are on the road, this will be a chance for us to figure out how competitive we want to be this year."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Led by eight early points from junior Charlie Fantom, Skidmore hit timely shots throughout much of the first half to prevent Ithaca from any scoring runs, as the road team held just a narrow 27-24 lead with 9:25 on the clock.  
• The Bombers eventually swung the momentum with 13-6 run to take a double-digit lead, 40-30, late in the first half with 2:50 to go.
• A Gooden driving layup followed by an Aidan Roy midrange jumper would cut into the deficit, before Ithaca knocked down a pair of free throws to take a 42-34 lead into intermission.
• At halftime, Gooden totaled a team-high 10 points to lead the Skidmore offense.
• It was all Ithaca in the second half, as the Bombers immediately went on a 10-2 run to start the half to put the Thoroughbreds in a 52-36 hole at the 17:47 mark.
• When the Bombers pushed the lead up to 20 points, the Thoroughbreds responded with three consecutive layups from freshman Will Wertz and Gooden to cut the deficit to 14 points, 64-50, with 12:22 on the clock.
• However, that was the closest Skidmore would get as Ithaca pulled away for good the rest of the way to ultimately outscore the Thoroughbreds 54-36 in the second half.

STANDOUT THOROUGHBREDS

• Gooden scored a team-best 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field.
• Junior Nick Padilla led the bench scoring with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

UP NEXT
The Thoroughbreds heads out on the road Wednesday in a showdown at Vassar. Tipoff is set for 7:30 PM.