Adam Dudzinski had 18 points and tough defense gave the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team a 60-52 victory over the Skidmore Thoroughbreds Friday night in Saratoga Springs, N.Y, clinching their ticket to the Liberty League tournament with the victory. 

The Saints improved to 15-8 overall and 9-8 in the Liberty League. With their third straight victory and a sweep of the Thoroughbreds on the year, the Saints now occupy sixth place in the Liberty League with no way to fall down further after Clarkson lost to RPI, eliminating the Golden Knights from the playoff picture. 

"I was really happy to see our effort on both ends of the basketball tonight," said Saints head coach Chris Downs. "We play the best team in the region when we face off against RPI on Saturday. It will be a good challenge for the team."

After both teams struggled early offensively, the Saints went on a 10-0 run to get themselves an 11-4 advantage with 13:39 left in the half. Skidmore trimmed the deficit to 15-13 but the Saints responded with a 7-0 run to give them a 22-13 advantage with six minutes remaining in the half.

A couple minutes later, St. Lawrence got out in front by double digits after a layup by Trey Syroka and the Saints were up 27-16. The Thoroughbreds got the momentum by scoring the last eight points of the half and the St. Lawrence lead was just 27-24 at halftime. Both Adam Dudzinski and Syroka had six points for the Saints at the break. 

Defense was the name of the game for the Saints to begin the second half as Skidmore missed nine of their first 10 field goal attempts in the first five minutes, allowing the Scarlet and Brown to go on a 9-2 run and get up on top 36-26.

The defense continued to hold the Thoroughbreds in check and the Saints ballooned the lead up to as much as 14 after a bucket by Dan Anderson made the game 50-36 with nine minutes remaining.

Over the next four minutes though, Skidmore made things tight with a 9-0 run to bring the game to 50-45 with six minutes left. The Scarlet and Brown responded with a two from Dudzinski and then a pair at the line from Andrew Cowan to put the lead back up to nine a couple minutes later. Skidmore could not come up with a last push, and the Saints came away with a 60-52 victory. 

Dudzinski finished with seven rebounds in addition to his 18 points and Anderson ended the game with 10 points. Cowan compiled seven points, eight rebounds, and three blocks. The Saints shot 49 per cent on the day and held the Thoroughbreds to 32 per cent. 

The Saints will matchup against the Liberty League's top team, the RPI Engineers on Saturday, February 22 at 2 p.m. in the final day of regular season play around the Liberty League.

The Engineers held the Saints to a season-low 38 points in their 47-38 win over St. Lawrence in Canton, N.Y. back in December. The Saints are currently one game behind both Hobart and Union, and can finish as high as fifth with a win over RPI.