POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (January 30, 2015) – Skidmore opened the game on a 19-2 run, while junior Aldin Medunjanin scored a game-high 21 points to pace the Thoroughbreds to a 62-48 victory over Vassar Friday evening. A comeback bid in the second half for the Brewers fell short, as Skidmore made plays late and held the Brewers in check defensively to seal the 14-point victory. The visitors dominated on the glass, holding a 41-26 advantage on the Brewers while shooting 38.5% from the field.  Skidmore moves to 10-6 on the season and 7-1 in the Liberty League with the win, while VC drops to 5-12 and 1-7 in the conference with the loss. 

The visitors came out firing in the opening half, sinking six of their first eight shots while adding four free throws to race out to a 19-2 lead at the Athletics and Fitness Center. Medunjanin was money from beyond the arc, sinking his first three attempts from downtown to start the game and force a pair of early Brewer timeouts.

Vassar finally halted the run at the 13:56 mark, after a triple from senior Andrew Adkins (Richmond, VA/Steward School) made it 19-5. VC began slowly chipping away at the lead throughout the remainder of the half, and the Brewers swung the momentum in their favor down the stretch.

Behind 16-27 with 4:16 left in the first, a layup from senior Luka Ladan (Belmont, MA/Belmont) cut the lead to nine and jumpstarted a 7-0 VC run. Two buckets from the charity stripe and a three-ball from junior Erikson Wasyl (Durham, CT/Coginchaug) cut the VC deficit to 23-27 with 2:06 left to play. Junior Erik Sanders had the answer for the Thoroughbreds on the other end, sinking a three pointer of his own to push his team's lead back to seven. VC converted another pair of freebies to end the half, and went into the locker room down only five after getting off to a rocky start.

Both teams traded baskets throughout the opening minutes of the second half, before another short run saw the hosts get their first lead of the night. Down 29-35, two more free throws and a layup from Wasyl had Vassar down only two points with 13:43 to play. A triple from senior Curtis Smith (Mastic, NY/Eastport South Manor) with 12:33 on the clock gave VC their first lead of the game, erasing the 17-point hole the Brewers had dug themselves to start.

VC could not hold on, and after initially trading buckets over the next several minutes, Skidmore again pulled away using effective three point shooting and smothering defense.  After a layup from Ladan tied the game at 39 with 10:50 to play, the Brewers scored only nine points the remainder of the game to seal the victory for Skidmore.

Ladan finished with a team-high 15 points for Vassar, while Sanders posted 18 for Skidmore on 6-15 shooting and a 3-7 mark from downtown. Medunjanin's 1000^th career point for Skidmore came in the first half after the junior netted his second free throw of the game.

The Brewers will be back in action tomorrow afternoon in the AFC to face Union College at 4 pm.

-VASSAR-