Morrisville, NY - Up by as many as 15 midway through the second half, it appeared as if the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team would cruise to an easy win its season opener, but Morrisville State had other ideas as the Golden Knights squashed a late run to hold on for a 54-52 victory Saturday night.
The Golden Knights return to action next weekend in the annual North Country Invitational, presented by Casella Waste Services, at Potsdam State's Maxcy Hall.
Struggling from the start, the Knights didn't get many great shooting performances on opening night, making just nine of 31 shots in the first half and nine of 29 in the second half. Fortunately, Clarkson's normally stoic defense continued to stymie its opponents.
After falling behind by as many as eight points in the first nine minutes of Saturday's contest, Clarkson found its defensive mindset and held the Mustangs to just seven points for the final 11 minutes of the half. Trailing by two early on in the second half, the Knights went on a 9-0 run and then, after a Morrisville basket, went on another 13-3 run to extend their advantage to 48-33 with just eight minutes to go. What seemed like a safe lead slowly evaporated as Clarkson made just one field goal for the remainder of the contest as the Mustangs chipped away at the lead. A Nik Marquis (Irvington, NJ) free throw with five seconds left gave Clarkson a small two-point advantage with five seconds left. A desperation 3-point attempt by Andrew VanDyke missed as the buzzer sounded as Clarkson escaped with the win.
Senior James Evans (Hamburg, NY) shot 4-for-9 from the floor and made a pair of 3-point field goals to lead Clarkson with 10 points, and he also added in 7 rebounds and 3 assists in 24 minutes. Brandon Linton (Queens, NY) and Keith Murray (Queens, NY) each contributed 8 points, but both reflected Clarkson's shooting woes as the two combined to shoot just 4-for-22 from the floor. The Knights were aided considerably by strong rebounding, regaining possession with 19 offensive rebounds.
Stephen Grant scored a game-high 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting for the Mustangs and Elonzo Wilson scored 10 points off the bench for Morrisville.
