Skidmore men’s basketball drops RPI 76-56

Staff reports SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> The Skidmore College men’s basketball team shrugged off a slow start with a big second-half run, getting back in the win column with a 76-56 victory over local foe Rensselaer, in Liberty League Friday night. The Thoroughbreds snap their two-game slide to improve to 7-2 overall, remaining undefeated at 3-0 in league action. The Engineers fall to 7-3, dropping its first league game to fall to 2-1. Skidmore was able to pull away for good thanks to a 12-minute, 30-9 run to begin the second half, getting its biggest lead of the night at 69-40. The Thoroughbreds were able to hold off Engineer spurts, keeping the lead over 20 for the final 8:02 of regulation. “I thought it was a good win for us,” said head coach Joe Burke. “RPI has a very good basketball team and our guys came out and played them that way. Our attention to detail on the defensive end was the difference. We have some dynamic scorers, but if we are able to lock in on the defensive end like we did tonight then our team is tough to beat.” After scoring a season-best 32 points in the last game at Guilford, Edvinas Rupkus picked up right where he left off, tallying a game-high 30 points on an efficient 12-for14 shooting from the field, adding eight rebounds and four assists. Dakpe Yiljep added 20 points and five rebounds, adding a seasonhigh four blocked shots. Noah Meren made the most of his first career start with nine points on 50 percent shooting from the field, adding five rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. Andreas Kontopidis led the way for RPI, tallying 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. Tom Horvat gave the Engineers an early lift, with all 10 of his points occurring in the first half. Marcus Giese chipped in 11 points with seven rebounds and five assists. RPI benefitted from an early Thoroughbred slump from the field, jumping out to a 16-9 lead after a layup from Horvat off a Skidmore turnover at the 10:33 mark. Yiljep got the Skidmore offense going with a deep 3-pointer on the next possession, with a pair of Rupkus free throws reducing the deficit to two, at 16-14. Skidmore took the lead again thanks to a 7-0 run, capped off by a nice sequence at the 6:55 mark. Yiljep blocked a Kontopidis dunk attempt, and the Thoroughbreds were off and running. Rupkus grabbed the rebound and went coast-to-coast, absorbing contact at the other end to get the layup and the foul. He converted the ensuing free throw to give Skidmore the 21-17 lead with 6:48 to go in the half. From there, Skidmore stretched the lead to as many as nine points, before RPI reduced its deficit to 35-31 with 22 seconds to go. With the clock ticking away from the first half, Chase Ta hit a contested jumper from the elbow, beating the buzzer and giving the Thoroughbreds a 37-31 lead at the half. RPI got as close as five, at 35-40 in the second half on a Giese jumper at the 18:07 mark, before Skidmore went on a massive run. Skidmore’s ‘D’ kicked off a 12-0 run, before RPI responded with five straight points to reduce the deficit to 52-40. Skidmore responded with an even bigger 17-0 run, capped off by a running layup by Meren to put the game away for good at the 8:02 mark. Skidmore shot 52.6 percent from the field in the victory and benefited from 19 points off RPI turnovers. RPI shot 40.4 percent from the field, but won the rebounding battle, 34-28. stretch to close it out. Junior forward Evan Fisher followed up Monday’s career performance with a solid eight points and nine rebounds for the Saints, while sophomore forward Thomas Huerter, Jr. added careerhighs of five points, seven rebounds, and two blocks in 16 spirited minutes off the bench in just his second appearance in the past month. Dominic Robb rounded out the Purple Eagles’ double figure scorers with 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench for Niagara which shot 17-25 from the free throw line as compared to just 6-12 for Siena. The Saints wrap up their season long three-game homestand to open 2018 when they host Canisius in the backend of a doubleheader Sunday at the Times Union Center. The Siena women tip off the action at 1 p.m., followed by the men at 3 p.m. of the season, 29% on 18-62 shooting from the floor. The Thoroughbreds were 26-58 (44.8%) from the floor. Badini then added an unassisted tally 1:58 into the second stanza, stealing the puck at the top of the RPI zone and shooting inside the right post for his fourth on the season. The Engineers had chances to get on the board late in the first period and during the second, but were unable to beat Madsen, who earned his third shutout of the year and 10th of his career. RPI turned in two opportunities early in the third, but a shot from the blue by sophomore Charlie Manley (Orchard Park, NY/Estevan Bruins) was stopped and the rebound attempt from junior Evan Tironese (Qualicum Beach, BC/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) was kicked away by Madsen. Senior captain Jared Wilson (Calgary, AB/Vernon Vipers) finished with a team-high five shots, while juniors Tironese and Brady Wiffen (St. Mary’s, ON/Trenton Golden Hawks) each had four. Both team were 0 for 2 on the power play. in the waning minutes, and Ryan Scarfo intercepted a loose puck in the neutral zone and scored on the open net to clinch the 4-1 victory. Scarfo’s goal was his 11th of the season, which leads all Dutchman skaters. Union went scoreless on one power play in the contest, but also went a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.