Utica, N.Y. - A balanced scoring effort from the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team, saw four players register in double-digits, leading the way to a 86-70 win at SUNY Poly on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Knights jump to 3-2 overall while handing the Wildcats their second loss of the season. Clarkson returns to Potsdam to take on SUNY Potsdam at Maxcy Hall, Tuesday evening, with tip-off set for 5 p.m.
Clarkson jumped out on a 9-2 run early on, capped off by lay-ups from Steve DeRegis and Nate Abernethey along with free throws by Lorenzo Rappa and Aydin Kocak. Anthony Rose produced the first four points for the Wildcats but Abernethy hit the nylon for three at the 15:12 mark to give the Golden Knights an early eight point advantage. That lead would then grow to nine as Abernethy hit the second of two free throws with 12:51 remaining. Leighton Williams Jr. broke a two minute scoring drought on the next trip down for the Wildcats with a lay-in but Braeden Burns provided a sharp answer for the Knights with a wide-open wing three off a feed from Matt Toscano to make it 18-8 in favor of Clarkson.
A 4-0 run out of a timeout by the Wildcats to cut the lead to six would again be answered by a Burns long range attempt, as the junior would connect to push the lead back to 21-13. Looking to speed the game up with some full court pressure after a made basket from Lorenzo Rappa, Clarkson forced a turnover and missed three in transition over the next two possessions and would then take a 26-14 lead following a Tyson Maxam lay-up and free throw as the first half would reach the 10 minute mark.
The teams began to trade baskets over the next three minutes of action as Poly would get within four, at 30-26, following a three from Rose to cap off a 6-0 run. Another two minutes of scoreless action up to the 4:17 mark would be broken by Lorenzo Rappa as his driving layup put a stop to the Wildcat run and push the lead back to six. A Burns three on the next possession following an offensive board would make the advantage 35-26 but another response from Rose back down the other end cut the lead back to seven with three minutes remaining. Back-and-forth over the final two minutes saw the Knights lead by as much as eight, but that lead was cut to three when Rose powered his way inside for an and-one finish at the rim to make it 39-36. Two last-second three-point attempts from the Wildcats would come up off-target meaning Clarkson would go into the break up three.
Leading by as much as 12 in the first, Clarkson used a 10-0 mark in second chance points and 7-1 advantage in assists to make up for a 4-17 (23.5%) shooting percentage from beyond the arc. SUNY Poly was held to just 2-10 (20%) shooting from three but as a team shot 10-12 (83.3%) from the charity stripe.
Kocak opened the scoring in the second half with a nice step-back three over his defender to give Clarkson the quick six-point advantage. After struggling to get the defensive board on the next possession, Clarkson would finally manage to force a turnover and find DeRegis on the offensive end for a spot-up three of his own to push the lead to nine early on. SUNY Poly still was unable to score three minutes into the half and Clarkson would take advantage of that as Lorenzo Rappa would find a wide-open Kocak after an offensive rebound to knock down another three to make it 48-36 and force the hosts to use a timeout.
Poly would come out of the breather trading baskets with Clarkson until a three from Grayson Wallace gave the Golden Knights their largest lead of the game at 13 with under 15 minutes remaining. As the Wildcats would continue to sit in a matchup zone, the Golden Knights perimeter shooting continued to make them pay as Kocak would hit his third of the game to cancel out a Wildcat layup on the prior possession and put Clarkson up 56-42 with 12:42 remaining.
As the game entered the last 10 minutes, Maxam would put the Knights up by as much as 17 with a contested finish at the rim but Rose quickly answered with a lay-in of his own to bring it back to just a 15 point advantage. Just two minutes later with the lead still at 13, Maxam would dribble in to a straight-on three and hit nothing but net to put Clarkson up 16 and then come down two possessions later and connect for another trifecta to give the Golden Knights a 19 point advantage with under seven minutes remaining.
Maxam would go on a 5-0 scoring streak by himself in roughly 30 seconds as Clarkson continued to maintain a 18-point lead with less than five minutes remaining. The lead would grow to as much as 20 following two Burns free throw attempts, an advantage that the Golden Knights would not relinquish. A dunk from Kocak with just over two and a half remaining put the finishing touches on the contest as both coaches would enter their bench lineups for the final time on the board.
Clarkson would finish shooting 47% (30-64) from the field and 37% (13-35) from three while holding Poly to just 19% (4-21) from long range. The Golden Knights would hold the upper hand in rebounding (39-31), second chance points (21-5) and bench points (32-12). The Wildcats would lead in points in the paint (40-32).
Four Golden Knights reached double-figures in scoring on the afternoon, Maxam paced Clarkson with a career-high 18 points in 15 minutes on 3-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Burns tossed in 15 points, while grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out four assists. Kocak (12 points, 3-6 from three, eight rebounds) and Abernethy (12 points, five rebounds) both scored in double-digits. Lorenzo Rappa added eight points along with three steals in a balanced outing. Rose led all scorers with 31 points for the Wildcats, going 10-15 from the field, while grabbing nine boards. Kamryn Comstock (13 points, nine rebounds) was the only other SUNY Poly player with over 10 points.
