First-year Pierre Coffy netted 21 points, while junior Chris Miner recorded his third straight and seventh double-double of the season, but the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team fell to Rensselaer 90-83 after a hard-fought league battle in Burkman Gymnasium Friday evening.

Miner tallied 20 points and 12 rebounds for his seventh double-double, while Brandon Arnold and Dom DeRegis also recorded double digits for the Saints. Arnold shot 7-for-12 and added one shot from the arc for 17 points, while DeRegis shot 5-for-12 and 1-for-5 for 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Miner also posted a season-high seven assists.

Tom Horvat opened scoring for the Engineers with an early shot from the arc. Mitchel Wayand then gave Rensselaer an 8-5 lead just past the 17th minute. However, the Saint managed to counter most all of the Engineers play staying right on their heels. Arnold gave the Saints their first lead of the game off a jump shot with just over nine minutes remaining in the first half.

The Engineers regained control on a 12-0 run over the next two minutes of play. DeRegis successfully completed the 3-point play to bring the Scarlet and Brown within two and then tied the game at 35 with 1:39 to play.

Andreas Kontopidis put the Engineers up by two with 32 seconds to play in the half, but Coffy knotted the game once more just six second before the buzzer.

St. Lawrence fought hard, tying the score nine times throughout the contest, five in the first half and four in the second.

Steve Low landed a shot from the arc, giving the Saints a five-point advantage and largest lead of the contest with 10:40 remaining in the second half. Horvat, who shot 4-for-11 from the arc, added another three putting RPI on top, 70-69.

After a continuous battle down the stretch, Marcus Giese completed his own 3-point play, tallying a five-point lead with 52 seconds to play. Horvat and Brad Featherston sunk all four free throws for RPI to close the game.

St. Lawrence shot a combined 54 percent from the field and a perfect 100 percent from the free-throw line, while RPI shot just 44 percent from the field and 85 percent from the line.

The Engineers were led by Kontopidis with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Horvat recorded 16. Bard Featherston netted 14 points, while Giese and Asa Barnhill added 10 apiece. Giese also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.

With the loss, the Saints fell to 5-19 overall and 3-14 in conference play, while Rensselaer kept its playoff hopes alive improving to 13-11 and 8-9.

The Saints will take on Skidmore in the final game of the season tomorrow, February 17th at 4 p.m.