POTSDAM, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men's basketball team (1-0) found itself down by 18 to Morrisville State (0-1) with 16 minutes to play before pulling off its biggest comeback in recent memory. The Bears ran to a 64-61 victory in the first round of the North Country Invitational at Clarkson University on Saturday evening. In his collegiate debut, Potsdam freshman guard Tishsean Emmanuel (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) scored a game-high 19 points, including 17 in the second half. Junior Joe Estramonte (Greenwich, N.Y./Greenwich) contributed 14 points and senior captain Zac Adams (Potsdam, N.Y./Potsdam) finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.

The Mustangs, an Elite Eight team in last year's NCAA tournament, started the contest red hot. Morrisville ran the score to 14-0 before layup from junior guard Marquis Lee (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) got Potsdam on the board at 15:45. Unel Daley drained a 3-pointer that made it a 19-2 Mustang advantage with 13:15 left in the half. From that point on the Bears chipped away at the lead and actually outscored Morrisville 22-21 over the rest of the period. An Adam's jumper at 6:31 cut the gap to 27-17, but the Mustangs pulled away again and led 40-24 at the break.

The Bears' situation didn't look much better during first four minutes of the second half. Morrisville's Trent Ward scored with a layup that made it a 49-31 game with 15:55 to play. It was mostly Potsdam the rest of the way, closing the game with a 34-12 run started by an Emmanuel jumper. Emmanuel drilled a three at 13:01 to get Potsdam within 49-40. Adams launched a three with 4:30 on the clock to make it 58-54 contest. After a Mustang turnover and two Bears offensive rebounds, senior forward Conor Engle (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) was fouled and completed a three-point play to make it 58-57 at 3:59. Another three from Estramonte gave Potsdam the lead for good at 2:34. A layup by Adams and two free throws by Estramonte with 14 ticks left were all the Bears needed to complete the stunner.

Lee finished with nine points for Potsdam, while senior guard Rishawd Hendricks (Brooklyn, N.Y./Mount Zion Christian Academy) added six and Engle finished with five points and five boards.

Ibrahima Toure led the Mustangs with 14 points. Trent and Daley had 12 and 11, respectively. Jared Donalson grabbed a contest-best 16 points.

The Bears were 5-for-9 from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes and shot nearly 48 percent from the floor overall during the same span.

Potsdam is back in action tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. when they face the College of St. Joseph in the second round at Clarkson.