CANTON, NY – Despite a career-high 32 points from freshman Jacob Gooden, the Skidmore College men's basketball team couldn't overcome a slow start that resulted in a 75-66 defeat at St. Lawrence on Friday evening.

An ice-cold shooting start and turnover woes doomed the Thoroughbreds (5-7, 1-4 Liberty League) to an early 21-point deficit against the Saints (6-8, 4-3 Liberty League), a hole Skidmore was unable to fully climb out of despite a stronger 44-point second-half showing and a stellar game from Gooden, who became the first Thoroughbred to score 30 points in a game since Tautvydas Kupstas poured in 33 against Vassar during the 2022-23 season.

"Slow start really hurt us. We didn't defend like we needed to and we had way too many turnovers in the first half. It's hard to play from behind against them when you know you're seeing 40 minutes of zone," said head coach Joe Burke.
 
"We need to bounce back and find a way to get one tomorrow. We finally have a string of home games after this weekend coming up and we need to get some momentum."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The game quickly got out of hand as the Saints built a massive 27-6 advantage at the 9:34 mark after shooting an efficient 10-of-20 from the field, while Skidmore shot just 3-of-12 to start the game and committed seven early turnovers.
• The Thoroughbreds answered back with a quick 9-0 run to cut the deficit down to 27-15 at the 5:53 mark led by seven points from Gooden during the stretch.
• However, it was all St. Lawrence the rest of the half as the home team outscored the Thoroughbreds by a 14-7 margin in the final five minutes to lead 41-22 entering intermission.
• At halftime, Gooden led the Thoroughbreds with a team-high 13 points, while senior Joey Skoric added on five and fellow freshman Will Wertz scoring four.
• Skidmore came out firing to open the second half, hitting seven of its first eight shots to trim the deficit to 12 against St. Lawrence at the 14:12 mark.
• The Saints, however, responded by pushing the lead back out to as many as 20 points to halt the comeback bid.
• Playing to the final buzzer, Skidmore closed out the game on a 17-6 push in the final four minutes, cutting the deficit down to single digits in the closing seconds.

STANDOUT THOROUGHBREDS

• Gooden scored a game-high 32 points with five rebounds and two assists.
• Skoric scored 10 points with a team-high seven rebounds.

UP NEXT
The Thoroughbreds look to quickly turn the page tomorrow by taking on Clarkson in a 4 PM road matchup.