Hobart College held off a late charge by Bard College to post a 73-67 Liberty League men’s basketball victory Saturday afternoon. The Statesmen improved to 10-12 overall, 7-8 in the conference, while the Raptors slipped to 8-14, 4-11.
Hobart shot 51.9% from the floor with nine 3-pointers and made 8-of-10 at the free throw line in the game. The Statesmen outrebounded Bard 38-27. Aidan Rodgers scored a game-high 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting with three triples. He also handed out a game-high six assists. Jack Lesure added 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. Chandler Owenby was 5-for-5 from the floor for 10 points, shared team-high honors with six rebounds and blocked a game-high three shots. Patrick Walker also had 10 points and six rebounds.
Bard shot 42.6% from the floor with four 3-pointers and went 5-for-7 at the line. The Raptors took advantage of Hobart’s 22 turnovers, holding a 27-12 advantage in points off turnovers. Elliott Harris and Azriel Almodovar each scored 13 points for Bard.
Hobart rode a 25-6 run in the first half to its biggest lead of the opening half. Owenby poured in six points during the run, giving the Statesmen a 30-16 lead with just over five minutes to go to halftime. The Raptors came roaring back to tie the game before halftime, at one points scoring 13 straight points, and leveled the game at 29 on a 3-pointer by Mike Parme about a minute and a half before halftime.
Owenby pushed Hobart back in front with a layup and Lesure’s trey sent the visitors into the break with a 37-32 edge. Owenby scored all 10 of his points in the opening 20 minutes.
At the start of the second half, Bard made three consecutive buckets to retake the lead 38-37. With the game tied at 40, the Statesmen launched a decisive run, scoring 17 of the next 19 points. Lesure opened the run with a 3-pointer, Walker logged a team-high six points during the five minute flurry and David Corrales Marco capped the surge with another three, giving Hobart a 57-42 lead with just over 11 minutes remaining.
The Raptors refused to go down without a fight, outscoring the Statesmen 20-7 over the next 10 minutes. Bard pulled within two, 64-62, on Tyler Burns’ driving layup with about a minute and a half left. At the other end of the floor, Rodgers sank a 3-pointer with just under a minute left. Harris drove to the basket to get it back to a one-possession game with 32 seconds left, but Jackson Meshanic went 6-for-6 at the free throw line to close out the victory.
The win moved Hobart into a tie for sixth place in the league standings with three games remaining, all at home, in the regular season. The stretch run begins with Bard making the trip to Geneva for a game at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15.
