Saratoga Springs, N.Y. – Senior Gerard O'Shea tied a 30-year old program record with eight steals to lead the Skidmore College men's basketball team to a 71-50 victory over Vassar in Friday night's Liberty League opener at the Williamson Sports Center.

The Thoroughbreds improve to 7-2 overall, while the Brewers fall to 4-5.  It was the first league game of the season for both schools.

O'Shea finished with nine points, five assists and four rebounds to go along with his school record eight steals.  He tied the record set by Jim Taggart in 1982.

Brian Lowry and John Mantas each finished with 13 points leading Skidmore as 10 different players scored.

Sam Rappaport scored a team-high 10 points for Vassar and Luka Ladan chipped in with nine points and seven rebounds.

O'Shea opened the game with a three as the Thoroughbreds would lead from start to finish.  Skidmore got the lead to 10 on a jumper from Connor Merrill at 10:14, but the Brewers would battle back and got the lead down to three on an Evan Carberry jumper, but that's as close as they would get as Skidmore answered right back with a 10-0 run.  Carberry hit a three with two seconds remaining in the half, cutting the Thoroughbreds' halftime lead to 35-27.

Skidmore opened the second half on an 11-2 run capped by a jumper from Kevin Dahill, pushing its lead to 17 at 14:26.  The Thoroughbreds would push their lead to as many as 24 after a Sakhile Sithole three pointer with 3:36 remaining as they would go on to the 71-50 win.

The Thoroughbreds held a 32-18 advantage in points in the paint and scored 21 points off 13 Brewer turnovers.

Skidmore returns to action tomorrow as they host RIT, while Vassar travels to Union, both games are scheduled for 4 p.m.