Box Score POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.—The Hobart basketball team closed out the regular season with a 79-55 victory over Vassar this afternoon. The Statesmen clinched a spot in the Liberty League's four-team playoff with yesterday's 75-67 win at Rensselaer, and secured the No. 3 seed today.

All 15 Statesmen played in the contest with 13 cracking the scoring column. Sophomore Matt Pebole led a balanced scoring attack with 13 points and five rebounds, while sophomore Greg Stern contributed 12 points off the bench. Juniors Tim Llewellyn and Adam Salzmann each collected a team-high six rebounds.

Hobart shot 42.5 percent from the floor, while holding Vassar to just 31.5 percent. The Statesmen also enjoyed a 54-29 rebounding advantage.

Casey Black led three Brewers in double figures with a game-high 17 points.

Vassar grabbed an early lead, but Hobart used a 13-2 run to turn a 10-9 deficit into a 22-12 lead. Stern led the charge with all three of his three-pointers during the surge.

The Brewers closed the half on a 7-2 run to head to the locker room down 42-37.

Hobart kicked it up a notch in the final 20 minutes, particularly in points in the paint and bench points. The Statesmen scored 28 of their 40 points in the paint in the second half, compared to just four for Vassar. Hobart's bench contributed 22 second half points to Vassar's four and was able to score 10 points off turnovers to methodically pull away.
 
It wasn't until midway through the second half that Hobart ballooned its lead. A layup by freshman forward John Donnelly cut the Statesmen lead to 48-43 with 14:48 to play, but in a three minute span, Hobart built a 12-point cushion, 55-43, following a jumper by sophomore Marc Bertucci with 11:55 to play.

The Brewers were stuck at 45 points for nearly three minutes and during that time, Hobart built a 64-45 lead following a jumper by Pebole, the Liberty League's leading scorer. Vassar was able to convert on only four of 22 field goal attempts in the second half, enabling Hobart to steadily pull away.

The Statesmen won for the seventh time in its past eight games to improve their record to 16-9, the most wins in a season since the 2004-05 squad (16-11) became the last Statesmen club to reach the Liberty League Tournament. This year's Hobart team tied for second in the conference with Skidmore, but will be the No. 3 seed following the tie breaker.