Junior Ben Crawford led the Saints with 11 points and Jack Twardy netted a season-high 10 points, but the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team fell to No. 20 Skidmore 81-56 in the Liberty League opener Friday night in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Riley Naclerio and Crawford each grabbed seven rebounds for the Saints, while Dom DeRegis recorded two steals.

Skidmore opened up scoring with five 3-pointers in a row to take an early 15-3 lead over the Saints. First-year Pierre Coffy recorded the lone three for St. Lawrence. Edvinas Rupkas tallied his second and third 3-pointer's of the game before the ten-minute mark, extending Skidmore's lead to 20 points.

Crawford led the Saints in the first half with eight points, but the Thoroughbreds shut down any offensive chances from the Saints in the first half and carried a 43-25 lead into halftime.

Two free throws from Naclerio after a technical foul on Skidmore cut the gap to 12, but there was no slowing the Thoroughbreds down. Skidmore quickly regained momentum and held an 18-point advantage over the Scarlet and Brown.

Pat Gallagher gave the Thoroughbreds another 20-point lead from the free-throw line with just under six minutes to play. Despite multiple chances in the second half, the Saints were unable to reign in Skidmore's high-scoring offense.

Rupkas among the top-40 scorers in the nation, led the Thoroughbreds with 24 points and 11 rebounds to complete the double-double. Dakpe Yiljep added 19 points, while Pat Gallagher rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13.

The Saints fell to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play, while Skidmore improved to 5-0 and 1-0.

St. Lawrence will travel to Rensselaer for their second game of the Liberty League opening weekend, Saturday, December 2nd. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m.