Potsdam, NY - Senior Felix Llanos (Queens, NY) scored 17 points, including the 1000th of his career midway through the second half, and the Clarkson University Men’s Basketball team needed every one of them to outlast Union 82-80 in overtime Friday night at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights improved to 10-4 overall and 3-2 in the Liberty League with the narrow victory, while the Dutchmen dropped to 9-5 overall and 2-4 in conference games. Clarkson takes on Rensselaer on Saturday afternoon, while Union will travel to play St. Lawrence.

Both teams stroked for nearly 50 percent in the first half, as Union used its perimeter game to score 18 of its 33 points from beyond the 3-point arc. Clarkson jumped out to an early lead, but Clarkson frontcourt found its way to the perimeter and buried a pair of 3-pointers to keep it close. Union took the lead at the 9:07 mark for the first time following a Joe Mason 3-pointer, but Clarkson quickly got it back and held the advantage with a 7-0 run. The Dutchmen came back to tie the score at 25-25, and trailed by just one after another 3-pointer from Mason, but Clarkson went on a 5-1 run in in the final two minutes to take a five-point edge into intermission.

In the second half, Clarkson went on a hot streak early to put the lead to 14 points early on, but Union slowly chipped away and finally came all the way back with three minutes remaining. The Dutchmen used their size to their advantage, feeding forward Keven Donohue on the interior to get lay ups and fouls. Throughout the second half, Clarkson had a significant disadvantage in fouls (11-2 late), but with Union pounding the ball inside and the Knights settling for jump shots on the perimeter, even the biased Clarkson fans couldn’t complain.

The low foul total worked to Union’s advantage late in the game. With the score tied and Clarkson with possession of the ball, Union had fouls to give and was able to force the Knights into a tougher possession, committing a foul with just under five seconds to go. Clarkson’s shot didn’t fall, and the game went to overtime.

In the extra session, Felix Llanos gave Clarkson the lead on its first possession by draining a 3-pointer after an offensive rebound from John Coleman (Potsdam, NY), and Coleman scored on the next possession to give the Knights a five-point lead. Although Union was able to get back to within two, a tough jumper from Marques Charlton (Deer Park, NY) in the lane gave Clarkson a four-point lead and limited the Dutchmen’s chances down the stretch. With one last chance, trailing by two, Union inbounded the ball and pushed it up court quickly with a pair of passes, but the last one wasn’t handled cleanly by Keith Callies on the sideline, and the turnover gave Clarkson the win.

All five Clarkson starters finished in double figures, led by Jerry Coleman’s (Potsdam, NY) 18 points. Llanos chipped in 17 points and John Coleman had 16 points. Charlton tossed in 13 points and contributed five assists and four steals, and Nate Uline (Gansevoort, NY) had 11 points on a perfect 5-for-5 performance from the floor.

Donohue was a tough match up in the post for the Knights, and he had 27 points and 14 rebounds, going 11-for-14 from the free throw line and 7-for-11 from the field. Joe Mason scored 20 points, but shot just 7-for-20 in the game. Rusmir Dzanko added in 12 points and Terrell Winney tossed in 12 off the bench.

With a 3-pointer in the second half, Llanos became the 17th player in Clarkson history to reach the 1,000-point mark in his career. The last player to hit the mark was Elson Pickering in 2010. Llanos is the first guard to reach 1,000 since Josh Harner did so in 2004.