KNIGHTS REMAIN AS ONLY UNBEATEN IN UCAA

January 23, 2004

Russ Vitallo passes to John Adamchick in traffic - photo by Chris Lenney

Potsdam, NY – Senior guard Josh Harner (Houston, TX) scored a game-high 17 points, including three 3-pointers, as the Clarkson University Men’s Basketball team remained undefeated in the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association (UCAA) with a 66-58 win over Rensselaer Friday night at Clarkson’s Alumni Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights won their sixth straight game to improve to 9-5 overall and 3-0 in the UCAA while RPI fell to 9-5 and 3-1 in the UCAA, ending their six-game winning streak.

The Golden Knights started off the game enjoying the home court advantage, jumping out to a 25-8 lead in the opening 11 minutes thanks to a 17-2 run from 15:45 to 8:29. In the opening 11 minutes, the Golden Knights shot .643 from the floor, while the Red Hawks struggled at .143. Clarkson saw their gap close to six points, 29-23 over the final few minutes before a basket from EJ Harrison (Troy, NY) made the half time score 31-23. Freshman Erick Vigansky (Kenosha, WI) led the Golden Knights with six points in the first half thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers. Clarkson finished the half shooting 50 percent from the floor. Paris Moore scored seven points and Kori Massey added six points for RPI.

Clarkson opened the second half with an 8-0 run to make the score 39-23, but RPI took grinded out the next seven minutes to counter the momentum with a 14-3 run. The two teams continued to exchange runs when Clarkson expanded a five-point lead into a 13-point advantage, only to see it shrink to seven a minute later. However, the Golden Knights would hold on with a comfortable advantage for the remainder of the game as Harner sunk 4 of 4 free throws in the final minute.

Sophomore forward Russ Vitallo (Dracut, MA) scored 10 points, grabbed five rebounds and made five blocks for the Golden Knights. Clarkson had 11 blocks in the game. Harrison finished with eight points and two steals in 21 minutes.

For the Red Hawks, Jared Hite scored 12 of his 15 points and grabbed 10 of his 13 rebounds in the second half. John Van Schaick added 15 points and Moore finished with 14 points. Rensselaer enjoyed a 50-34 advantage on the boards, including 27 offensive rebounds.

The Golden Knights close out their two-game UCAA weekend home stand against Vassar College on Saturday.

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