POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - In the first meeting since last season's Liberty League Championship, Skidmore's Tautvydas Kupstas tallied 23 points to lead the Skidmore Thoroughbreds to an overtime 78-77 victory over the Vassar College Men's Basketball team on Friday night. Senior Zach Johnson recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds for Vassar as they fell to 8-6 overall and 4-3 in Liberty League play while Skidmore improved to 7-7 overall and 5-2 in conference action.

Following a first half where neither team was separated by more than four points, Skidmore took a 33-29 lead at the half as Kupstas led the Thoroughbreds with 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting and made three triples. Vassar was led by senior Ethan Ellis who finished the half with a team-high nine points along with senior Zach Johnson who added four points and six rebounds.

Following a bucket from Greg Skoric to start the second half, the Thoroughbreds lead grew to 35-29 but the Brewers battled back to a tied contest following a three-pointer from senior Zev Katz at the 15:53 mark. Skidmore grew its lead back out to four at the 14:10 mark on a bucket from Bobby Stratts until Vassar responded with five straight points with Johnson converted a lay-in to put the Brewers out in front at 12:58 remaining in the contest.

A three-pointer from Skidmore's Riley Greene evened the contest at 50 at the 10:45 mark before Vassar regained the lead at 54-52 on a layup from Johnson after a feed from senior Kevin McAuliffe. The Thoroughbreds responded with a driving bucket from Greene until the Brewers were spurred on by McAuliffe who knocked down a three-pointer in transition and then hit a fadeaway jumper right before the expiration of the shot clock at the 7:52 mark.

The Thoroughbreds rattled off a quick 9-2 scoring run over the next two minutes as Kupstas scored seven of the points to give Skidmore a two point lead with 5:38 left in the contest. Once again, McAuliffe responded for the Brewers as he drilled a three-pointer with three and a half minutes to take a one point lead. The Thoroughbreds tied the game up at 70 apiece following a putback dunk from Skoric with 1:50 remaining in the game.

Vassar had a look at the end of regulation but could not get it to fall and then preceded to steal the rebound and got off a last second three-pointer that rimmed out and sent the contest to overtime. 

The Thoroughbreds scored first in the overtime period as Harrison Echelberger converted a three-point play before Johnson finished one in the paint to keep the Skidmore lead at one. Skidmore then responded with a three-pointer from Kupstas and a jumper from Greene to push the lead to a game-high six points. 

Senior Avni Mustafaj's three-point play on his drive to the rim with 1:48 remaining in the overtime period cut the Thoroughbreds lead down to two at 78-76. In the final possession, Vassar had a look from three-point territory but it rimmed out as Skidmore earned a hard fought 78-77 conference road victory.

Mustafaj finished with 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting for Vassar and added six rebounds and six assists. McAuliffe chipped in 14 points on 5-for-8 from the field and also had two assists and five boards. Johnson finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds and Ellis was the fourth player to finish in double digit scoring for the Brewers.

Kupstas recorded a game-high 23 points along with four rebounds and three assists while Greene tallied 15 points in addition to five steals, five assists and two blocks. Echeleberger scored 12 points and Alexei Downie tallied 10 points while Skoric recorded nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds for the Thoroughbreds.

Vassar finished the contest shooting 44.3-percent from the field and made seven triples and Skidmore shot 44.6-percent overall and knocked down nine three-pointers. The Thoroughbreds held a 13-10 edge in points off turnovers as Vassar earned a 16-9 edge in second chance points.

The Brewers will return to action tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m. against the RIT Tigers at home while the Thoroughbreds will continue its road slate at Bard tomorrow for a 4:00 p.m. tipoff.