GENEVA, N.Y. - A late scoring run by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team proved to be the difference as the Engineers defeated Hobart College in a Liberty League showdown, 63-53. The win was the 12th in a row for the first place Engineers, who are now 12-2 overall and 7-0 in the conference. Hobart, which had four players in double figures, drops to 12-3 and 6-2.
 
Over the last nine minutes of the game, RPI outscored Hobart 16-5, including a scoreless stretch that dragged on for nearly six minutes. With about nine and a half minutes to go, Tucker Lescoe made a jumper to pull the Statesmen within one, 49-48.
 
Then the shots stopped falling for Hobart. The Statesmen went 0-for-5 from the floor and committed three turnovers before Lescoe made a free throw to halt the scoreless run. On the other side of the ledger, sophomore guard Dom Black scored five of RPI's next nine points to stretch the lead to 58-48. Hobart trailed by no less than seven for the rest of the game.
 
Until that fateful stretch, the game was very much what one would expect from two of the league's front runners. The lead swung back-and-forth nine times with six ties. Throughout the first half, neither team led by more than five and they went into the locker room at the break tied at 29.

Hobart had a 37-36 lead five minutes into the second half, but RPI ripped off eight straight points to build a seven-point advantage. Black led that charge as well, sinking a pair of 3-pointers.
 
RPI junior Patrick Mahoney led all scorers, finishing with 20 points, while Black notched 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Jonny Angbazo contributed nine points off the bench.

Hobart's Daniel Cooke produced 12 points and six rebounds. Senior Edens Fleurizard and sophomore Jackson Meshanic both added 11 points and seven rebounds and Tucker Lescoe contributed 10 points. The Statesmen outrebounded Rensselaer 36-31, but the home team committed twice as many turnovers (16-8), an advantage the Engineers turned into a 21-10 scoring edge in points off turnovers.
 
Hobart will head to the North Country for its next contest, visiting Clarkson (4-10, 2-5) on Jan. 24 and St. Lawrence (4-9, 2-5) on Jan. 25. RPI will return home to host Bard (0-13, 0-7) on Jan. 21.