Men’s and women’s basketball advance to Liberty League championships

Vassar would make a final run in the fourth quarter, slowly chipping away at the Skidmore deficit. A Samarah Cook jumper with 2:14 remaining reduced Skidmore’s deficit to five, at 50-45. Skidmore would close things out with a 10-0 run, pulling away for the 15-point victory.

“We put a lot of things together today especially in the second half in front of a great crowd,” said Bennett. “There is no doubt that playing at home has its advantages and our crowd today was on the money we really needed them and thank them for their support.”

Vassar held a 5-2 lead until the 2:37 mark of the first quarter, when Fustini came back to tie the game at five with a 3-pointer from a Haley English assist. Donnelly helped the cause, adding six points to finish the quarter with the 11-10 lead.

The second quarter saw a very similar tone as the first. Neither team led for more than three points. After a 3-point play from Fustini to brought Skidmore back up by five (25-20) with 2:50 left in the quarter, the Brewers kept chipping away, scoring the final five points in the period to tie the game at 25 heading to the half.

In the second semifinal, No. 2 RIT (21-5) would weather a furious run by No. 3 Ithaca (20-7) in the third quarter to pick up the 68-61 victory. Amanda Olsen led the Tigers with a 15-point, 12-rebound double double. Tara Lynch added 15 points. Cassidy O’Malley led Ithaca with 16 points, while Julie Yacovani added 12 points and 13 rebounds.

This is the first time that RIT and Skidmore will meet in a postseason game. The teams split the season series 1-1, with each team winning on its home court. GENEVA, N.Y.» Fifth-seeded Skidmore College scored the final four points of the contest to slip past topseeded Hobart College 6360 in the semifinals of the Liberty League Men’s Basketball Tournament this afternoon. The Thoroughbreds advance to the league championship game to face second-seeded Union, an 84-64 winner over No. 3 RIT.

The third meeting between the Thoroughbreds and Statesmen featured 12 ties and 12 lead changes and went right down to the wire. Senior Luke Ruddy gave Hobart a 60-59 lead on a layup with about 30 seconds to go. With under 19 seconds left, junior Edvinus Rupkus made a layup to swing the lead back to the Thoroughbreds (15-11).

The Statesmen attacked the basket on their next possession, but turned the ball over, forcing them to foul with six seconds left. Junior Jack Byrne made both free throws to stretch the visitors’ lead to three. Hobart got off a 3-pointer ahead of the final buzzer, but the shot hit the iron and bounded away from its intended target.

The loss leaves the Statesmen (21-5) in limbo until Monday. The No. 1 ranked team in the East at the start of the week, Hobart must hope for one of 21 at large bids into the field of 64.

Rupkus and first-year Noah Meren led Skidmore with 16 points apiece. Meren also collected a teamhigh 13 rebounds. Junior Chase Ta added seven points, a game-high nine assists and four steals.

Junior Colin Dougherty and sophomore Tucker Lescoe paced the Statesmen with 11 points each. Dougherty also grabbed a game and career-high 15 rebounds for his second career double-double. Junior Jamal Lucas contributed 10 points and eight rebounds.

Hobart shot just .265 from the floor in the first half and finished with a season-low .323 shooting percentage. The Statesmen made six 3-pointers on the day, raising their season total to 225, just two off the Hobart record. Lescoe led the long-range efforts with three, upping his season sum to 70, nine shy of the Hobart season record.

The Statesmen committed two more turnovers than the Thoroughbreds, but had a 17-13 advantage in points off turnovers. Behind a 42-34 rebounding edge, Hobart also had the upper hand in second chance points, 14-2.

Skidmore shot .389 from the floor, making five 3-pointers. The Thoroughbreds’ bench outscored the Statesmen reserves 19-12.

A close game throughout, Skidmore enjoyed the largest lead of the contest, taking a 12-5 lead on a 3-pointer by Ta six minutes into the game. Hobart rallied to briefly take the lead with about two minutes to go in the opening half, but Meren made the final bucket of the session a minute later, knotting the game at 26 going into the break.

Hobart seized its biggest advantage of the day early in the second half. An 8-2 run that including a pair of 3-pointers by Sam Allen gave the home team a 34-28 lead. Meren made a pair of free throws about a minute later, closing the gap to four and from that point on, neither side led by more than four. SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.» The Skidmore College men’s lacrosse team dropped its season opener 17-13 to Babson College Saturday afternoon at Wachenheim Field.

Jack Curry scored four goals and Eric Megnia three to lead the Thoroughbreds. Brendan Halloran and Zac Parker had two each. RJ Caruso added a pair of assists and three ground balls. Ryan Warnock was 13 of 21 on face offs and had seven ground balls. Alex Miller added six ground balls and three caused turnovers.

Austin Fabel led the Beavers with five goals and an assist. Samuel Mishkind added four goals and Mason O’Hanlon scored three times.

Babson scored the game’s first four goals to take a 4-2 lead. Parker and Megnia cut it to 4-2 with man-up goals to end the first quarter.

The Beavers opened the second with three straight goals to open a 7-2 lead. Curry scored consecutive goals late in the second to get Skidmore to within three 8-5, but Mishkind scored with four seconds left for a 9-5 Babson lead at the break.

The Thoroughbreds Warnick and Megnia got it back to within two 9-7 with the first two goals of the third quarter, but that was a close as Skidmore would get.

Skidmore is back in action Wednesday at Clark University for a 4 p.m. game.