Potsdam, NY – A double-double from Keith Murray (Queens, NY) and an impressive defensive effort propelled the Clarkson University Men’s Basketball team to a 53-40 victory over Hamilton College Friday night at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights held on to first place in the Liberty League standings, improving to 4-2 in conference games and 10-6 overall. Hamilton fell to 7-9 on the season and 3-3 in league games. Clarkson will host Hobart College tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 pm

Neither team was particularly productive offensively in the first few minutes, but Hamilton really struggled to start the game. Trailing by seven points early, the Continentals didn’t break the ice on the scoreboard until 14:37 when Ephraim McDowell finally buried a jumper from the baseline.  Hamilton did come back to cut Clarkson’s lead, but the Golden Knights controlled the glass and limited the Continentals to just four offensive rebounds, a key since Hamilton shot just 18.5 percent (5-for-27) in the first half.

Senior Keith Murray paced the Knights in the opening half, nearly compiling a double-double with 8 points and 8 rebounds in 14 minutes. Elson Pickering (Brooklyn, NY) also matched numbers with 5 points and 5 rebounds. For Hamilton, McDowell led the team with five points as the only player for the Continentals to make more than one field goal.

Opening the second half, Hamilton continued to struggle to score, as the team didn’t get its first field goal of the second half until 16:45, and didn’t get another until the time was below 14 minutes remaining. Though the Continentals failed to muster much offense, Clarkson wasn’t that much better though its 42.9% shooting (9-for-21) in the second half allowed the team to maintain a healthy advantage.

The 13-point margin of victory was the most for Clarkson against the Continentals since the 1958-59 season (18 points) and Hamilton’s total of just 40 points was its fewest since the 1945-46 season (22 points).

Murray finished with a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds while forwards Elson Pickering and George Koduah (Accra, Ghana) each had solid games, contributing 9 points and 7 rebounds and 7 points and 7 rebounds, respectively. Ephraim McDowell finished with 10 points for Hamilton, but no other player had more than six points for the Continentals.