SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Skidmore College men's basketball team got to within five points of visiting Hobart with 1:05 left, but a steady half at the foul line gave the first-place Statesmen a 63-52 win over the Thoroughbreds on Friday evening for the Big Green Scream. The game was played in front of a near-sellout crowd of 1,140.
 

• After not taking a free throw in the first half, the Statesmen were sent to the line 15 times in the second half and made 14 of them for a 93.3 success rate.
• Skidmore was unable to get the key shot to go down but hung around long enough to make it a tight game into the final minute.
• Aidan Roy hit a 3-pointer with 65 seconds left to shrink Hobart's lead to five, 57-52.
• On the Statesmen's next possession, Isaiah Washington's off-balance shot took a fortuitous bounce into the hands of Pat Healy for an offensive rebound forcing Skidmore to foul. He made both free throws, and two more after a Skidmore miss, and Alex Moesch made both of his with eight seconds left for the 63-52 final.
• Healy led all players with 21 points. He also had four assists and eight rebounds.
• Prince Shyllon was Skidmore's leading scorer with 10 off the bench.
• Ian Bentley had a career high six blocks with eight points and four rebounds.
• Roy also scored eight and added two assists and two steals.
• Joey Skoric finished with seven points, eight rebounds, three assists, and three blocks.
• Hakeem Daphnis also scored seven.
• Skidmore led for a majority of the first half and was ahead by seven before Hobart ended the half on an 11-4 run to tie it at 26 with a last-second triple.
• Hobart's advantage got to as high as 10 on a pair of occasions in the second half.
• Despite finishing the game 41.8 percent (23-of-55) from the field, Skidmore was 4-of-22 (18.2 percent) from beyond the arc, while the visitors shot 40.7 percent overall and 35.7 percent from long range to compliment the near-perfect night at the line.
• Team stats finished nearly identical in points in the paint (24-24), fast-break points (6-4 Hobart) and bench points (20-19 Hobart).
• Hobart keeps pace atop the Liberty League standings at 11-4. The Statesmen are 18-4. Skidmore is 4-17 overall and 2-13 in the league.
• From head coach Joe Burke: "We played hard for 40 minutes but just couldn't put the ball in the basket.  Defensively, the guys did everything we talked about all week. We just could not get it going on the other end. I know they are disappointed, but we made strides tonight. The crowd (thank you) was awesome, and it was a playoff atmosphere which is how it should be around here. Big things to come in the future for this group if they keep at it."

NEXT UP: Skidmore will complete its home schedule and host Senior Day on Saturday with a 4 p.m. start against RIT.