Just four days removed from a home loss to St. Lawrence University, the Hobart College basketball team bounced back with a 64-49 over those same Saints. The Statesmen, who shot 48 percent from the floor, got a game-high 13 points from Patrick Walker.
Walker was 5-of-9 from the floor with six rebounds and a blocked shot. Jackson Meshanic posted his second straight and eighth overall double-double this season. He scored 12 points and corralled a career-high 17 rebounds. Hobart dominated SLU on the glass, outrebounding them 45-23. Aidan Rodgers made three 3-pointers for nine points and Jack Lesure dished out a game-high five assists.
Will Engelhardt was the only St. Lawrence player to reached double digits, finishing with 11 points and a team-high five rebounds. The Saints shot just 31.5% from the floor, including 3-of-14 from beyond the arc.
After some early back and forth, Hobart used a 10-2 run to build an eight-point lead midway through the first half. Rodgers started the run with a 3-pointer. After Engelhardt countered with a bucket for the Saints, the Statesmen hit back with back-to-back layups by Carter Meshanic and then consecutive layups by Walker for an 18-10 lead. Hobart kept the lead for the rest of the game and went into halftime leading 32-27.
Walker led all scorers with nine points in the opening 20 minutes.
Hobart opened the second half on a 23-6 run that broke the game open. Chandler Owenby’s layup started the run followed by a 3-pointer by the Saints’ Gavin Macaulay. The Statesmen then scored 11 straight points to stretch their lead to 45-30. SLU made a free throw to halt its scoring drought, but Hobart went right back to work, outscoring the home team 10-2 over the next four minutes. When the dust settled, the Statesmen led 55-33 with under nine minutes remaining.
The Saints (13-8, 7-7) managed to whittle their deficit down to 14 with under four minutes left, but could get no closer.
Hobart (8-11, 5-7) will be back in action Wednesday, Feb. 9, at 1 p.m. at Clarkson (5-15, 2-11).
