Potsdam, N.Y. - Nate Abernethy and Braeden Burns would combine for 32 points but the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team faced second-half struggles en route to a 63-77 loss to visiting Hobart college, Friday evening. 

Clarkson moves to 6-8 overall, 1-6 in conference play while Hobart improves to 11-3, 5-2 in the Liberty League. The Knights will return to action on Saturday, hosting Skidmore at 4 p.m.

Each side would jump out to a fast start as Abernethy and Burns would both connect on threes but Hobart would respond with trifectas from Monty Nedd and Gabriel Bergeron to make it 15-9 just under seven minutes into the contest. Neither team would score over the next three minutes until another three from Hobart saw the lead grow to nine. Clarkson would continue to chip away, eventually getting it back down to four following a Tyson Maxam finish at the rim with 7:46 remaining. 

The Hobart lead would quickly push back up to 11 following a 7-0 run from the Statesmen as Clarkson continued to play catch up, managing to cut the deficit to six with 3:20 remaining after free throws from Abernethy. A 6-0 response by Hobart, capped off by an alley-oop slam from Dorian Paki meant the visitors would take a 44-31 lead into the break. 

Coming out of halftime Clarkson quickly managed to chip away at the lead as a three from Aydin Kocak split two jumpers from Abernethy to make it 46-43, Hobart, just five minutes in. Shaking off a relatively slow start, the Statesmen soon found their footing in the second half doing just enough to offset Clarkson baskets as the lead grew to 15 with seven and a half minutes remaining. Layups from Burns and Abernethy on the next two possessions brought the Knights back to within 11 but Hobart again grabbed momentum in the form of another Paki dunk with 5:13 left in the contest. 

A tough finish produced by Burns brought Clarkson back to within 10 with just over two minutes to go but an Alex Moesch jumper in the lane on the next trip for the Statesmen took any remaining wind out the Knights sails with Hobart going 2-4 at the free throw line over the final minute for the 77-63 scoreline. 

Hobart would lead in points in the paint (38-28) and bench points (27-9) and turn the ball over just ten times. Clarkson also managed to take care of the ball to an extent with only 13 turnovers but could not overcome a 27% (10-37) shooting output from three-point range. 

Abernethy led the Knights with 19 points and eight rebounds while Burns tallied 13 points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists. Kocak added nine points, going three for five from behind the arc. Moesch led the Statesmen with 18 points, shooting three for three from three-point land, Allen Mordi added 16 points and nine rebounds in a 24 minute outing off the bench.