Victories dominate as semester winds down

Men's basketball posted a 2-0 record this past week with home wins over Castleton and Trinity. On Tuesday against Castleton, junior Melvis Langyintuo (Tamale, Ghana) scored 15 of his game-high 22 in the second half and classmate Terron Victoria (Albany, N.Y.) converted a three-point play with 24 seconds remaining to lift the Thoroughbreds to a 74-71 win. In the 61-56 win over Trinity, juniors Gerard O'Shea (West Sand Lake, N.Y.), Kyle Clark (New York, N.Y.), John Mantas (Niskayuna, N.Y.) and Victoria all scored in double figures as Skidmore wrapped up its fall semester with a 6-2 record. The Thoroughbreds return to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 5, when they host Norwich. 

Women's basketball picked up a 75-43 win over Potsdam in its only contest this week. Freshman Michela Ottati (Fort Johnson, N.Y.) had a game-high 20 points and seven rebounds to lead the way. Junior Megan Gaugler (Amsterdam, N.Y.) added 12 points and classmate Christina Gargiso (Staten Island, N.Y.) chipped in with 10 off the bench. Skidmore improved to 3-4 on the year and will resume play Jan. 4 against Nichols as part of the Bahamas Goombay Shootout.

Ice hockey went 0-2 this past week, falling to Castleton in overtime and Plattsburgh. Against Plattsburgh, freshman Vlad Gavrik (Kharkiv, Ukraine) scored as junior goalie Colin Bessey (Montclair, N.J.) made 33 saves. In the OT loss at Castleton, senior Hunter Thayer (Shelburne, Vt.) had three assists and classmate Joe Melnyk (Rotterdam, N.Y.) had a goal and an assist as junior goalie Andrew Ross (McKinney, Texas) made 23 stops. The Thoroughbreds are 3-5-1 overall and 2-2-1 in the league; they will return to action at 7 p.m. New Year's Day at Middlebury. ~ By Cody Berschwinger