Plattsburgh, NY – First half foul trouble and a rough night from the perimeter kept the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team from breaking through with its first win of the young season as the Golden Knights fell to Plattsburgh State 83-67 Tuesday night.

The Golden Knights dropped to 0-2 through two games, while Plattsburgh opened its season with a victory. Clarkson will look to get on track this weekend in the annual North Country Invitational to be held at SUNY Potsdam.

Clarkson jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the first five minutes as Felix Abongo enjoyed a strong start with seven quick points in that span, but the senior picked up two early fouls and played just six minutes in the first half. That was enough of a momentum shift for the Cardinals as Plattsburgh recovered in the next few minutes to tie the score at 20-20 midway through the period. Plattsburgh took the lead shortly thereafter and held at least a three-point advantage until the five-minute mark of the half. However, a 10-2 run shook the Golden Knights off the Cardinals tail and a 3-pointer from Edward Correa with six seconds left in the half gave Plattsburgh a double-digit lead (44-34) at the break.

That 10-point deficit would quickly balloon to as many as 19 points in the first five minutes of the second half, but Clarkson wouldn't let the game get out of hand any further, slowly cutting into the margin and reducing it to 14 on several occasions, including 63-49 with less than 10 minutes to go. Another 9-2 run by Plattsburgh pushed the advantage for the Cardinals to 21 points with 6:43 to go, and the Knights could not get back into the contest after that stretch.

Junior forward Derek Hart enjoyed his best game as a collegian, scoring a career-high 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting, while Abongo produced 13 points. Senior Jeremy Liss didn't miss, going 2-for-2 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line for eight points, adding in five rebounds and three assists as well. Freshman Malaquias Canery also had nine points before fouling out. For Plattsburgh State, Correa finished with 15 points and Zach Coleman tossed in 12 points.

The Cardinals shot 50.0% (29-for-58) from the field and Clarkson went 23-for-58 (39.7%), but the Knights struggled mightily from the 3-point line, making only two shots out of 18 from beyond the stripe. Clarkson was also outrebounded 44-28.