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Knights men's basketball see winning streak end at Union, 86-76

Posted 1/12/19

Schenectady, NY – A slow start had the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team playing catch up from the start, and though the Golden Knights rallied back on several occasions, the Green and Gold …

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Knights men's basketball see winning streak end at Union, 86-76

Posted

Schenectady, NY – A slow start had the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team playing catch up from the start, and though the Golden Knights rallied back on several occasions, the Green and Gold could never completely overcome its early troubles in an 86-76 defeat against Union College on Friday evening.

The Golden Knights saw their three-game winning streak come to an end, dropping to 3-10 overall and 2-4 in the Liberty League, while Union pushed back over .500 at 6-5 overall and 2-3 in league games. Clarkson looks to get back on track when it faces Ithaca College on Saturday afternoon.

Missing its first eight shots of the game, the Golden Knights quickly found themselves in a nine-point hole, trailing 10-1 in the early going. Clarkson steadily got back into the contest with a variety of 3-point shooters making from long-range, and a Matt Higgins 3-pointer at the 6:06 mark pulled the Knights to within four (25-21). Over the next three minutes, the Dutchmen were able to extend their lead back to double figures, but Joe Lucas's jumper with a little over a minute to go reduced the margin to eight at the break.

Down by 10 (37-27) in the opening seconds of the second half, Clarkson received 3-pointers from Chris Hulbert, Matthew Hornak and Joe Lucas to tie the game at 37-37, the first time the two teams were tied up since the tip-off. Three more times the two squads were knotted up, with the latest occurrence at 56-56 at the 10:06 mark, but Clarkson was never able to take the lead. After Jake Purdy's free throw at 10:06, Union began to put a little distance between itself and the Knights, maintaining at least a two-possession advantage after Jackson Mannix hit a 3-pointer at the 9:03 mark to give the Dutchmen a 61-56 lead. Clarkson was still hanging around, trailing by seven (74-67) at 4:51 following a Liam Ellis 3-pointer, but Union would score the next seven points in 96 seconds to push the margin up to 14. Although Clarkson would trim that lead down, it could not get closer than nine for the rest of the contest.

The Golden Knights went 14-for-36 from beyond the 3-point arc (38.9%), but did not convert inside the line, going just 10-for-31 (32.3%) on closer shots. Matt Higgins scored a team-best 15 points and also had a team-high six rebounds to go along with three blocked shots. Jason Phelps chipped in 14 points coming off the bench, and Joe Lucas added 13 points. For Union, Jackson Mannix enjoyed a game-high 21 points and added to his day with 10 rebounds. Kevin Jefferson and Brandon Laing also recorded 13 points apiece for the Dutchmen.