GENEVA, N.Y. – The Skidmore College men's basketball team are one step away from its fifth Liberty League title after a 63-60 victory over top-seeded Hobart, in the Liberty League Semifinal from Bristol Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.
 
Skidmore (15-11), seeded fifth, will play for the league title on Sunday against defending champion and second seed Union (17-8), who defeated RIT 84-64 in the second semifinal game. The Thoroughbreds and the Statesmen have won each of the last three league titles. Hobart (21-5) will await a possible at-large bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament on Monday.
 
Freshman guard Noah Meren had one of his best games of the season, scoring 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field, adding a career-high 13 rebounds for his third double double of the season. Junior guard Edvinas Rupkus added 16 points, and stands just a single point away from breaking the single-season scoring mark of 580 points, a mark he set last season. Junior guard Chase Ta added seven points, and a game-high nine assists and four steals. The Thoroughbreds shot 39 percent from the field in the victory.
 
Colin Dougherty, Tucker Lescoe, and Jamal Lucas scored in double figures for the Statesmen, combining for 32 points. Skidmore held the regular-season champs to just 26.5 percent shooting from the field in the first half and 32.3 percent shooting in the game.
 
It was a wild final two minutes of the contest, with five lead changes between the two teams. Meren gave Skidmore a 57-56 lead at the 1:53 mark after hitting a pair of free throws. Hobart and Skidmore would convert on free throws in the next couple of possessions, as the Thoroughbreds held a 59-58 lead with 1:10 to go. Luke Ruddy would convert on a layup in traffic to give Hobart a 60-59 lead, with 32 seconds left.
 
With the season on the line, the Thoroughbreds turned to Rupkus, who worked a Statesmen defender in the post, scoring on a layup with 19 seconds left to take a 61-60 lead. Needing a stop against a potent Hobart offense, Skidmore delivered, as junior guard Jack Byrne picked off Dougherty's pass, converting on a pair of free throws at the other end for the 3-point lead. Lucas' final desperation 3-pointer was off the mark, as the Thoroughbreds stormed the court in celebration.
 
"We played really hard and really tough even when things didn't go our way," said head coach Joe Burke, who has advanced to the league title game in five of his eight seasons at Skidmore. "This group has found a little something deep down that we didn't have earlier in the year. We can enjoy this for a short bit but need to shift our focus to tomorrow. It's a nice win but we have to get locked in and beat Finland tomorrow to close the deal."
 
Skidmore jumped out to a 15-8 lead in the first 7:50 of the contest, before Hobart clawed back to tie things up at 15 at the 8:47 mark. Neither team could gain a healthy advantage the rest of the half; Skidmore would lead by as many as four points in the final 8:47 and Hobart briefly took a two-point lead in the final two minutes, before Meren's layup sent the teams to halftime tied at 26.

The second half saw Hobart begin to take control, jumping out to a six-point, 34-28 advantage in the first 2:27. This time, Skidmore would claw back, taking a 40-36 lead after an 8-0 run. The lead would swing back and forth from there, with the Thoroughbreds eventually pulling off the road win and the upset, shooting 44 percent from the field in the final half.
 
The game saw 12 ties and 12 lead changes in total. The Thoroughbreds were able to withstand a 42-34 Statesmen edge on the boards by scoring 13 points off Hobart turnovers and getting 19 points from its bench.
 
Skidmore exacts revenge on Hobart with the win, snapping a three-game losing streak to the Statesmen, which includes a loss in the 2017 Liberty League Semifinal.
 
Strangely enough, Skidmore and Union have never met in the league postseason. The teams split the season series 1-1, with each team winning at home.