Rochester, N.Y. - Up nine at the halftime break, the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team would go bucket-for-bucket with hosts RIT in the second half, gaining an important 80-71, Liberty League victory, Friday evening.
The Knights draw even to 10-10 overall while improving to 5-8 in conference play and will face off with Ithaca, tomorrow, February 7th, closing out their weekend road trip. RIT falls to 5-15 overall and 2-11 in the league.
Clarkson would go up 11-4 just over three minutes into the contest with eight points from Steve DeRegis and a three from Lorenzo Rappa giving the Knights and early advantage. RIT continued to stay within reach however, as a Nigel Pierman hook shot in the lane and Brody Brown wing three made it 11-9 in just two possessions. Nate Abernethy finished off a feed from Lorenzo Rappa to provide a response and 13-9 lead for the Knights before the first media break of the game.
A three-pointer straight out of the timeout from Matt Toscano pushed the lead back up to seven until a quick 4-0 response from the Tigers, with another three from Brown brought it back to within three with 11 minutes remaining. Off the bench, Grayson Wallace would produce the next seven points for Clarkson with a pair of layups and a three, pushing the advantage back up to 23-15 in the span of two minutes.
The hosts would manage to tie things up at the 5:05 mark following a three from Jaron Josephs that made it 25-25 but a Braeden Burns layup at the other end put Clarkson back ahead. Tyson Maxam would quickly follow with two straight threes to make it an 8-0 run for the Knights with 2:50 left in the first half. Two straight finishes at the rim for the Tigers brought it back to 36-29 but the only scoring over the final two minutes of the first came at the two-second mark when Lorenzo Rappa beat the buzzer with a driving floater to his left that sent Clarkson into the half up 38-29.
Clarkson would finish the half shooting 50% (14-28) from the field and 53% (8-15) from three compared to 38% (12-32) and 33% (4-12) marks for the Tigers. With just ten fouls between the two teams going into the break, RIT would hold a 14-10 edge in points in the paint but Clarkson received a 21-point injection from the bench while RIT would see just 12 bench points.
Coming out of halftime looking to score, the lead would grow to double-digits less than two minutes in as Abernethy and Lorenzo Rappa answered a Zac Ditzel three to make it 43-32. RIT would quickly cut back into that lead before the first media timeout of the second half with Josiah Turner and Brown combining for a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to make it 43-42 with 15 minutes left in the contest.
Both teams would continue to score the ball consistently but Clarkson was able to do just enough to build the lead back up to seven with five straight points from DeRegis and a layup from Burns as the final ten minutes of the contest loomed with Clarkson up 53-46. A free throw and contested driving layup from Burns re-established the double-digit Golden Knight lead as the Clarkson defense would continue to hold the Tigers' offense at bay for numerous possessions in between buckets. Burns would cap off a personal 8-0 run at the 9:15 mark with a free throw to continue to extend the lead, this time to 13.
The lead would get to be as much as 16 with 6:33 remaining as Bobby Piddock rattled off two lay-ins off of feeds from Toscano and Burns to make it 66-50 but RIT countered with five of the next seven points to bring it back to 68-57. With under three minutes to go in the contest, the Tigers would again cut the lead down to 11 before Lorenzo Rappa connected on a corner three to make it 73-59 but a Turner three on the other end would make it an 11-point deficit once again.
An offensive rebound and layup off of a free throw from Jackson Otis meant that the Tigers would trail by nine with 1:48 remaining while Burns would look to put the game away with two free throws to again make it 11 on the next trip down. The hosts would then continue to turn up the pressure eventually cutting the lead down to 77-71 with a minute left following a three and layup from Brown. Missing opportunities, the Tigers would be forced to foul with time ticking towards zero allowing Clarkson to do just enough at the free throw line, going 3-5, and resulting in the 80-71 final.
Clarkson would finish shooting 49% (25-51) from the field and 48% (12-25) from three while gaining a crucial 28 points off the bench in the win. RIT held marks of 41% (29-71) from the field and 33% (9-27) from three, gaining extra possessions thanks to 12 offensive rebounds and just eight turnovers.
DeRegis led the Knights with a complete performance of 18 points and eight rebounds while also passing out five assists. Lorenzo Rappa, Burns and Maxam all registered 12 points with Burns grabbing six boards and Rappa tallying four assists. Brown would finish with a game-high 23 points and six assists for the Tigers followed by 10 apiece from Ditzel, Turner and Otis.
