Knights Fall at Hamilton, 63-56

Clinton, NY – For the second time in less than a week, Felix Llanos (Queens, NY) recorded a career-high with 25 points for the Clarkson University Men’s Basketball team. Unfortunately, unlike last Saturday’s game against Union, the junior guard’s efforts were not enough as Hamilton College held off the rest of the Golden Knights in a 63-56 Liberty League victory Friday evening.

The Knights fell to 10-7 overall and 2-4 in the conference standings, while Hamilton improved its conference slate to 4-2 and 10-5 overall. Clarkson hopes to knock off first-place Hobart on Saturday afternoon to salvage one game over the weekend.

Hamilton raced out to a 10-3 lead through the first four minutes, but Clarkson quickly responded with an 11-4 run of its own to tie the score at 14-14. The Knights then took their first lead of the contest a few moments later and held a narrow advantage for a few minutes before enduring a cold streak. In a five-minute stretch, Clarkson was held without a field goal and saw a three-point advantage turn into a nine-point deficit thanks to four missed shots and a pair of turnovers. However, Clarkson recovered in the final three minutes and cut Hamilton’s lead to only three points (35-32) at the half. The first half leaders for the contest were Clarkson’s Felix Llanos, who tossed in 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting and dished out three assists, and Hamilton’s Pat Sullivan, who scored nine points, and Ephraim McDowell, who added eight.

In the second half, the Continentals quickly pushed their lead to double figures and held a sizeable advantage for a good portion of the second half, edging out by as many as 12 points. Llanos’ hot shooting kept Clarkson in it, pulling the Knights to within three (57-54) with less than four minutes to go. However, the Clarkson offense went cold from there, missing four shots and turning the ball over three times, scoring just twice on free throws in the final seconds.

Llanos shot 9-for-16 from the field with four 3-pointers, adding in five rebounds and four assists. Senior Rey Jefferson (Budd Lake, NJ) was next with eight points, but outside of Llanos, the Knights shot just 11-for-35 from the floor (31.4%). Hamilton had six players score seven points or more, led by Sullivan’s team-best 15 points.

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