SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A late Hobart run was all it needed to thwart a record-setting start by the Skidmore College men's basketball team, falling to the Statesmen by a 64-52 score in Liberty League action at the Williamson Sports Center Saturday afternoon.
 
Skidmore (8-5, 6-1 Liberty League), tied for its best start in program history prior to the game, drops its first league game of the season. Hobart improves to 8-6 overall and 5-2 in conference action.
 
Skidmore led for much of the game, even starting the game with a 15-6 lead in the first 6:03 of the game. Hobart hung around, slowly chipping away at the deficit, but the Thoroughbreds kept the Statesmen at bay over the game's first 30 minutes. Hobart would get its first lead of the second half on a Colin Dougherty 3-pointer at the 8:46 mark, but Ty Lamport would snag the lead back for Skidmore (47-45) on a 3-pointer from the corner. A few minutes later, Hobart tied the game at 47, but Noah Meren answered back for the Thoroughbreds, sinking two free throws to give Skidmore a 49-47 lead at the 6:20 mark.
 
Hobart would begin its run from there, getting a pair of treys from Tucker Lescoe and a Edens Fleurizard tip-in to take a 55-49 lead. Jack Byrne kept Skidmore in the game with another 3-pointer, but it was as close as the Thoroughbreds would get. Hobart closed the game on a 17-3 run, keeping Skidmore scoreless over the final 4:21.
 
"I'm disappointed in our performance tonight," said head coach Joe Burke. "We played tired, terrible basketball. I will take the blame for this one. Winning conference championships is tough winning regular season conference championships is even tougher. We need to dig a little deeper than we did today and I'm confident we will, going forward. It's only one loss but it's one we need to learn from and then move on quickly."
 
Meren led Skidmore with a solid all-around game, scoring 15 points and adding six rebounds, three assists, four steals, and three blocked shots. Edvinas Rupkus added nine points and three assists. Greg Skoric tallied seven points, adding nine rebounds and three blocked shots. Dakpe Yiljep also tallied seven points, going 3 of 5 from the field.
 
Dougherty paced Hobart with 28 points, adding six assists and five rebounds. Lescoe scored 10 of his 11 points in the second half.
 
Skidmore will hit the road for its last midweek game of the season, traveling to Vassar on Tuesday in a 7 p.m. start.