Bronx, NY – Leading by five points with four minutes to play, the Clarkson University Men’s Basketball team was on the wrong end of a 12-2 run late in its contest against Lehman College and fell 63-60, spoiling the first day of a homecoming of sorts for numerous Golden Knights in their visit to New York City this week.
The Golden Knights lost their second straight game and fell to 2-7 overall, while the Lightning improved to 6-8. Clarkson will try to get back on the winning track when it takes on NYU at 7:00 pm on Tuesday.
After falling behind by four points early in the first half, the Knights used a pair of impressive runs to take a double-digit lead. A 11-1 run over the course of five minutes game the Knights 13-7 lead, which shrunk to two points just a minute later. However, a 9-0 run, capped off by a Keith Murray (Queens, NY) 3-pointer gave Clarkson a 22-11 lead. Lehman battled back and tied the game at 29-29 in the final minute before a 3-point play by Jonathan Hood (Cortlandt Manor, NY) gave Clarkson a 32-29 edge at the half.
Hood finished the half as the Knights top scorer with 8 points in just 8 minutes. Elson Pickering (Brooklyn, NY) added six points and both Shawn Lasalita (San Diego, CA) and Murray contributed five. Jameson Garcia had 10 points and 5 rebounds in the half for Lehman, while Daryl May scored 8 points on 4-for-5 shooting. Duane Rhoden also added 6 points, 3 assists and 3 steals in the opening 20 minutes. Garcia and May combined to shoot 9-for-13 from the field, but the rest of the Lightning shot only 2-for-18.
After briefly seeing the score tied at the start of the second half, the Knights held the lead for the next 15 minutes with their advantage extending to as many as seven points on a couple of occasions. Lehman, though, again climbed back into the contest as Clarkson made only four field goals for the remainder of the game following a lay up from Ryan Smith (Niagara Falls, NY) at 11:28. Though Clarkson held a five-point lead after a Keith Murray lay up at 4:03, the Knights were unable to score for a stretch of three minutes, 13 seconds as Lehman took the lead with eight free throws in the final minutes.
Brandon Linton (Queens, NY) and Pickering tied with a team-high 13 points for Clarkson, with Pickering also blocking three shots. Hood finished with a career-high 12 for the Knights, and Murray added in nine points.
Rhoden came through with 16 points and 6 steals for the Lightning and May added 16 points. Garcia contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds for Lehman.
Six Clarkson players (Jonathan Hood, Kevin Linares, Brandon Linton, Keith Murray, Elson Pickering, and Brandon Rigg-Reives) grew up within 40 miles of the city, with all but Hood within a very short driving distance of Lehman College.
