GENEVA, N.Y.— The Skidmore College men's basketball team completed the season sweep of Hobart with a 61-58 Liberty League road win.
 
The win raises the Thoroughbreds record to 11-7 overall, 6-4 in the conference. The Statesmen dip to 8-10, 4-5.? ?
 
Skidmore led by as many as 10 in the second half, but Hobart rallied to tie the game at 57 on a 3-pointer by Sean McKinless with 2:45 to go.
 
A minute later, the Thoroughbreds reclaimed the lead on a triple by Jack Byrne. Hobart's Matt Walsh made 1-of-2 at the line with 89 seconds left to make it a 2-point game.? ?Both teams had a possession and a chance to score before Chase Ta earned a trip to the line and made the first of two free throws, restoring the 3-point lead.
 
The Statesmen had a chance to cut into the lead with 33 seconds remaining, but missed a pair of freebies. Skidmore grabbed the rebound off the second miss, but McKinless came up with a steal for one last chance.
 
Hobart called a timeout with under 14 seconds left, but after finding no open looks burned another timeout with 1.4 remaining. This time Walsh caught the inbounds pass, spun and took a contested 3 from the right wing that bounded over the backboard as the buzzer sounded.? ?
 
Skidmore rookie Edvinas Rupkus had team-highs of 12 points and nine boards. Erik Sanders and Ta each scored 10 points. Ta handed out a game-high five assists and made four steals. The Thoroughbreds shot 38 percent from the field, 25 percent from 3-point range, and 59 percent at the line. Skidmore had a 41-36 edge on the glass and committed one fewer turnover
 
Hobart's Jamal Lucas recorded game-highs with 21 points and 10 rebounds. He also shared game-high honors with four steals. The Statesmen shot 33 percent from the floor, making more shots from beyond the 3-point arc (9) than inside it (7). Hobart shot 61 percent at the free throw line.? ?.? ?
 
The Thoroughbreds held the lead for most of the first half, but never more than a single digit advantage. After the visitors took an 8-point lead inside the final two minutes, Walsh made a layup and Zach Grattan sank a pair from the line to send Hobart into halftime down 30-26.? ?
 
In the second half, Hobart took a 41-39 lead on a Walsh layup, but Skidmore built the largest lead of the night with the next 12 points. Byrne had 5 of his 8 points in the game during that run.? ?
 
The Thoroughbreds travel to RIT tomorrow for a 4 p.m. start.

COACH BURKE:
I'm proud of how we competed. Our program has a lot of experience in this building and it's always very difficult to win here. We certainly were not great tonight but I thought we dug our heels in at crucial times to come up with big plays.

We keep throwing challenges at this group. We are asking them to grow up quick. They will have another great opportunity tomorrow night.