Potsdam, N.Y. - Leading by as much as 12 at one point in the second half, the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team would hold on late to beat Alfred State, 75-73, Monday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium.
Clarkson improves to 5-4 overall and will face an extended break until the new year, returning on January 2nd to take on Plattsburgh State in Plattsburgh. The Pioneers fall to 2-10 overall.
Alfred State would jump out to an early nine point advantage under five minutes into the contest with a three from Elijah Kioko and layup from Darius Cunningham Jr. stretching the lead. Clarkson would storm back to within three at the 11:16 mark as Braeden Burns muscled his way to the basket for two and Ben Rappa would capitalize on an old-fashioned three-point play. Two free throws for the Pioneers pushed the lead back to five before Nate Abernethy produced a 5-0 scoring streak up to the 9:13 mark with a three and two free throws to knot the score at 18-18.
Both teams would continue to trade baskets throughout the remainder of the half as Clarkson would manage to get up 25-20 following a Lorenzo Rappa jumper in the paint but Alfred State would immediately respond to tie things up at 28 with a four-point play from Mykell Lawson with 4:14 remaining. A three from Matt Toscano would put the Knights up four with 2:30 left before Mykell would again tie the score at 36 with a jumper in the lane. A fadeaway jumper from Burns followed by another Abernethy three offset a Cunningham Jr. mid-range jumper to give Clarkson a 41-37 advantage headed into halftime.
The Knights would open up the second half with a 6-0 run in the first minute and a half stretching the lead to 47-37 before managing to get the lead to 53-41 at the 15:38 mark. The Pioneers continued to chip away getting the deficit back to six just two minutes later following an and-one play from Lawson. A layin from Bobby Piddock and two free throws from Abernethy stretched the score back to 59-49 in favor of the Knights, the largest lead the team would have through the remainder of the contest.
Timely buckets would continue to keep the Pioneers just within reach until Cunningham Jr connected on a long-range attempt at the 5:45 mark to tie the score at 67. Burns would go one-of-two at the free throw line on the next trip but four straight Pioneer attempts at the charity stripe flipped the advantage to 71-68 in favor of the visitors. A much needed 7-0 scoring over the course of a minute and a half from the Knights put Clarkson back up 75-71, approaching the final minute of the game. Two free throws by Kioko at the 1:25 mark would be the final scoring of the contest as both teams would face empty trips down the floor including two missed desperation heaves from the Pioneers for the 75-73 final.
Neither team would shoot over 26% from three-point range, going a combined 15-65 from behind the arc. Clarkson held advantages in points off turnovers (14-3), bench points (16-13) and in points in the paint (34-32). Abernethy led the Golden Knights with 24 points while Burns (14 points, six rebounds) and Steve DeRegis (11 points) also tallied double figures. Lawson led all scorers for Alfred State with 26 points while Cunningham Jr. added 14 and Kioko posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards.
