GENEVA, N.Y. – Hobart won the first battle in a matchup featuring two of the league leaders, pulling away from the Skidmore College men's basketball team by an 89-74 score, in Liberty League action from Bristol Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.
 
Skidmore (9-4, 5-2 Liberty League) drops its second league contest of the season, but sits in a tie for second place in the conference. Hobart (11-3, 6-1 Liberty League) moves into first place with its fifth straight win.
 
Noah Meren tallied career highs with 21 points and 11 rebounds, his first career double-double. Dakpe Yiljep also tallied a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Edvinas Rupkus led Skidmore in scoring with 23 points, four rebounds, and three assists. It's the ninth time this season that Rupkus has tallied 20 or more points.
 
Jamal Lucas led Hobart with a game-high 30 points, adding 10 rebounds and four steals. Colin Dougherty added 19 points, with Dan Masino adding 16 and Tucker Lescoe adding 12.
 
Skidmore uncharacteristically struggled from beyond the arc, going 5-for-25 from 3-point range. Skidmore shot 38.7 percent from the field in the game.
 
Hobart led for most of the game, taking the lead for good after a 13-0 run gave the team an 18-6 lead at the 12:19 mark. Skidmore then went on an 8-2 run to reduce the deficit to six, at 20-14, but Hobart went on another run, a 15-0 spurt to give the Statesmen its largest lead of the game at 35-14. Skidmore tried to chip away at the lead, but Hobart rode a 50 percent shooting performance in the first half to get the 50-33 advantage at the half.
 
Skidmore got the deficit to as low as 13 points after Meren's layup made the score 68-55 with 7:34 to go, but a 7-2 spurt by the Statesmen put the game out of reach.
 
"I'm proud of the effort tonight," said head coach Joe Burke. "Honestly, I thought we did some good things but we just did not have enough left in the tank to get the win. It's a long season and a lot of basketball left to be played. We just need to get healthy and keep improving day by day. I'm looking forward to a good week of practice."
 
Skidmore will continue its tour of New York State with another road weekend, beginning at Bard on Friday, in an 8 p.m. start.