SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Hobart College junior Tucker Lescoe scored the 1,000th point of his career and the third-seeded Statesmen scored a 68-49 win over second-seeded St. Lawrence University in the semifinals of the Liberty League Men's Basketball Tournament. He's the 30th player in the history of the program to reach the milestone.
The win was the first in three tries this season for the Statesmen (17-10) over the Saints (16-10).
Senior Colin Dougherty led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He had a game-high seven rebounds and five assists. Jamal Lucas (16) and Lescoe (14) were also in double figures for the Statesmen.
Riley Naclerio topped the Saints with 13 points and six blocks, while Ben Crawford added 10 points and seven rebounds.
Lesco, who entered the game with 999 career points, put Hobart up 9-6 five minutes into the game, sparking a 14-3 run that put the Statesmen in front 20-9. He made three of his four 3-pointers in the game during the run. The Statesmen extended the lead to 13 at the break, 32-19.
St. Lawrence shot 25 percent from the floor in the first stanza, hitting 7-of-28 from the floor, including 2-of-8 from three-point range. Hobart went 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and 14-of-26 (.538) overall.
The Statesmen kept the lead in double figures early in the second half, pushing it out to 48-31 on an old fashion 3-point play by Lucas with 13:50 to play.
The Saints were unable to get any closer than 11 the rest of the way.
Hobart finished the game +11 in rebounding margin (36-25). It's just the eighth time this season that SLU has been outrebounded. It's the most the Saints have been outrebounded by (previous was -8) and it was their season-low for total rebounds.
Dougherty, who is third on Hobart's career scoring list, became the third Statesman to reach the 1,700-point plateau, hitting that total exactly. He is one point behind No. 2 Joe Corbett '03. Lucas cracked Hobart's top 10 for career scoring, raising his total to 1,457 and eclipsing Davidek Herron '03 (1,449).
The Statesmen will face Skidmore in the championship game at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The top-seeded Thoroughbreds defeated No. 4 Ithaca 82-77. Hobart will be making its seventh appearance in the Liberty League Championship game. The Statesmen are seeking their fourth title and first since 2014.