Potsdam, N.Y. - Braeden Burns would register 21 points on 9-13 shooting, lifting the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team to a 62-52 win at SUNY Potsdam, Tuesday evening.
Clarkson improves to 4-2 overall with the win and will return to action after Thanksgiving break traveling to RPI and Union for a Liberty League weekend series, December 5th and 6th.
SUNY Potsdam got out to a 10-3 lead early on following a tip-in layup by Ethan Banksh at the 14:50 mark. The Knights would respond with an 11-1 run up to the 10:39 minute mark capped off by two threes by Matt Toscano, pushing the lead to 14-12.
Both teams would combine for just seven points over the next four minutes as the Bears would get back into the lead with another layup from Banksh with 6:04 remaining. Two straight driving layups from Burns in the paint along with a long-range triple from Steve DeRegis put Clarkson back in the driver's seat, up six with just under four minutes to go in the first half. Three straight layups in the next three possessions from Burns put a bow on a 13-0 run as Clarkson would lead 31-19 with halftime looming. The hosts managed to get the lead down to seven with less than a minute left but another layup from Burns at the 30 second mark meant the Knights would take a 33-24 lead into the break.
Coming out of halftime, Mike Hancock would go to the free throw line and hit the first shot to get the lead back to eight, but that is the closest the Bears would be for the remainder of the contest as Clarkson began to find a foothold on offense. Rattling off an 8-1 run up to 14:32, Nate Abernethy, DeRegis and Burns would all dump in layups to get the lead up to 41-26. Following two scoreless minutes, Clarkson would again go on a 7-0 streak as the lead ballooned to 21 with a fastbreak layin from Ben Phillips.
The Clarkson lead would grow to as much as 24 with a trifecta by Casey Montesano at the 8:15 mark but a 15-0 answer from the Bears got the lead down to just nine with 3:24 remaining. Clarkson would do just enough to keep SUNY Potsdam at bay over the final minutes as the Bears got to as close as nine on two other occasions, but quick answers from the Knights ensured that was the nearest they would find themselves.
Following a first half that saw nine lead changes, Clarkson would never relinquish the advantage in the final 20 minutes. Both teams would be even in bench points (22-22) and points off turnovers (11-11), while Clarkson would hold a 36-30 edge on points in the paint. Burns led all scorers with 21 points to go along with nine rebounds. DeRegis added 10 on 4-5 shooting from the field and four assists. Toscano wrapped up Golden Knights in double figures with 12 points and five rebounds off the bench. Landon Cox led the Bears with 14 points as the only player in double-digits for scoring.
