BENNINGTON, Vt. - The two teams in Tuesday's men's collegiate basketball game at the Southern Vermont College Field House certainly lived up to their nicknames: The Skidmore Thoroughbreds ran the floor as if head coach Luke Flockerzi was digging spurs into their ribs, and the SVC Mountaineers struggled to get over a mental hump that blocked the way to their first victory.

Skidmore prevailed, 76-71, thanks to its relentless up-tempo attack that paid dividends both in transition and at the free throw line. The Mountaineers (0-4) led by as much as seven points in the first half and still held a four-point lead with 9:37 remaining in the game, but suffered a lapse in concentration during the final stretch that left the door open for the visitors (2-1) to escape with a win.

"I thought that with about three minutes to go, we had a moment of doubt," SVC head coach Mike McDonough said. "It took us a moment from there to get back to believing. That sometimes happens to young teams; they need to believe."

The Mountaineers' faith was intact for most of the game, thanks to explosive performances from sophomore Lance Spratling (14 points, 14 rebounds) and Deandre Kennedy-Ebron (23 points, 15 rebounds). Spratling nearly willed his team to victory by drilling a three-pointer from the right corner to draw SVC within one, 64-63, with 4:55 left in the game, but Skidmore's Jon Douglas (10 points) helped slam the door on the comeback by draining seven free throws in the final four minutes of play.

"They're an improved team," said Douglas, who tangled with the Mountaineers as a sophomore last season. "(Kennedy-Ebron) is a big guy, and is really tough to play against. It was a real job to try and keep him off the boards."

But as strong as the Mountaineers' rookie duo was, Spratling and Kennedy-Ebron also embodied the flipside of raw talent by combining for a dozen turnovers. SVC as a team gave the ball up 21 times, often on deflected passes made in haste to less-than-open teammates.

"Those 21 turnovers were the ball game," McDonough said. "You can't turn the ball over that many times and expect to win a close game like this. Or any game, for that matter."

The game was a seesaw affair off the opening tip, until SVC mounted a 10-3 run within a four-minute span midway through the first half to take a 17-10 lead. Junior Joe Karnik (16 points, 11 rebounds) fueled the spurt with a layup off an inbounds pass from Brendan Kordana, a monster block on the defensive end and a pull-up jumper in the lane off an offensive rebound.

"(Karnik) has really come into his own as a player," Douglas said.

But the Thoroughbreds kicked their game into overdrive from there, exposing a sort of Achilles Heel in the hosts' defense. Skidmore began pushing the ball relentlessly on changes of possession, beginning when they rocketed down the court off a made three-pointer by Spratling and scored an easy deuce by Bobby Langford (11 points) in transition. The sequence was one in a disturbing series, as the visitors scored seven first-half points in transitions off made buckets by SVC.

"Pace in the other direction was a problem for us," McDonough said. "We wanted to run up the floor on offense, but we were a little slow at times getting back on defense."

Skidmore clawed back to tie the game three times within the next five minutes of play, until Kennedy-Ebron seemingly had enough and exerted his will over the Thoroughbred frontcourt in the final 5:38 of the first half. The Albany native poured in 10 points off an array of put-backs, foul shots and power moves underneath, leaving Douglas and company shrugging their shoulders at the prospect of stopping the 6-foot-2 forward.

"What a force that guy is," McDonough said. "He's a phenomenal presence, and we still feel like we're only scratching the surface of what he can do."

SVC carried a slim 41-40 edge into halftime, and the game remained nip-and-tuck through the first five minutes of the second half. Skidmore took a 50-49 lead off a free throw by Langford, but Mountaineer guard Avery Mitchell (nine points, five assists) buried a three from the left wing to put his team back in front. Karnik then slammed home a dunk off a feed from Kennedy-Ebron and converted from the right block for two more, and Kennedy-Ebron put back his own miss to make it 58-53 with 11:31 left in the game.

Skidmore leapt out onto an 11-2 run over the next seven minutes to take a 64-60 lead. Spratling's three from the right corner brought SVC right back, but a questionable intentional foul call on the other end gave the Thoroughbreds two free throws and possession - and the visitors capitalized to pull ahead, 68-63, within the next two minutes.

Karnik snared an offensive rebound and parlayed it into a three-point play the hard way with 2:20 left, and a long-range triple by Kordana (seven points) with 26 seconds left gave the home team its final glimpse of a potential victory. But Skidmore earned six of its 37 total foul shots within the time remaining, and the Mountaineers were left looking for the silver lining after being denied their first win of the season yet again.

"The positive thing was that we got back to who we really are, after a weekend in which we got away from that," said McDonough, in reference to the Mountaineers' 0-2 showing at the Williams Invitational. "We took another step forward in terms of finding our identity. Now if we can improve our efficiency, we win a basketball game."

The next chance for the Mountaineers to do that will come next Tuesday, when they host Union College at 7 p.m.