Ben Crawford scored 15 points to lead the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team in scoring, but the Saints were unable to overcome a 44-28 halftime deficit, dropping their first Liberty League game of the season to Skidmore, 83-66, on Tuesday night in Saratoga, N.Y.

With the loss, the Saints (14-3 overall, 7-1 Liberty League) fell one game behind the Thoroughbreds (14-5, 9-1) in the conference standings.

"Skidmore served notice that they are the defending league champs and they are not willing to give up that title easily," said head coach Chris Downs. "Our game got put into perspective. We will see how this team responds."

St. Lawrence led the game for most of the first 10 minutes, but Skidmore took the lead for good when Chase Ta hit a 3-pointer with less than nine minutes left in the half to make the score 19-17. Kyle Kobis closed the gap to one point, 25-24, with about six minutes left in the half, but Skidmore closed the first frame with a 19-3 run to build a 16-point halftime advantage.

The Saints cut the lead to nine points on a pair of free throws by Crawford halfway through the second half, but would get no closer.

After making just 30.3 percent of their shots from the floor in the first half, the Saints were 14-for-28 (50 percent) in the second half. St. Lawrence's defense held the Thoroughbreds to 9-for-28 shooting (32.1 percent) in the second half, but Skidmore hit 16 of their 18 free throw attempts after the half to preserve the lead.

Willie Zachery scored 13 points for the Saints, and Riley Naclerio added 12.

Ta led Skidmore with 27 points, while Jack Byrne (17), Alden Medunjanin (12) and Edvinas Rupkus (10) also reached double digits.

St. Lawrence returns to Burkman Gymnasium this weekend to face Rensselaer at 8 p.m. on Friday, and Union at 4 p.m. on Saturday.