Troy, NY – After a disappointing loss to Union on Friday that eliminated the team from conference playoff contention, the Clarkson University Men’s Basketball team could have fallen flat in its final game of the season on the road. However, the Golden Knights did the exact opposite, torching Rensselaer for 51 points in the first half en route to a 100-78 victory Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Knights finished off the regular season with a 16-9 record overall and a 9-7 league mark, while Rensselaer finished at 10-14 and 7-9 conference record.

The Golden Knights led throughout the contest, but held just a 7-5 lead after the first three minutes. Over the next four minutes, Clarkson went on a 13-1 run to take a double-digit lead, including a 90-second stretch that saw senior Felix Llanos (Queens, NY) score eight straight points. Though that hot stretch was halted, the Knights ended the first half with 27 points in less than eight minutes. Up by five with 8:01 remaining, Marques Charlton (Deer Park, NY) buried a 3-pointer to spark the rally, with Clarkson ending the period on a 27-12 run. Freshman John Coleman (Potsdam, NY) punctuated the streak by scoring 12 points in the final 6:20 of the first period.

Clarkson shot 21-for-41 (51.2%) in the first 20 minutes and had three players in double figures. Felix Llanos had 16 points, going 6-for-10 from the field with four 3-pointers, Charlton added 11 points on 4-for-7 shooting, and John Coleman contributed 14 points and eight rebounds on his steady 6-for-9 performance from the floor. RPI came out flat, shooting only 30 percent (12-for-40) from the field and 4-for-15 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Though RPI was certainly capable of making a comeback quickly as a team that topped the 100-point mark six times this season, the Knights kept the Engineers at a safe distance for the entire second half, leading by at least 20 points the entire time. With the game in hand for Clarkson, the only thing that remained was to see which player would win the Liberty League scoring title. For the first time all season, Llanos had relinquished the lead to Matt Pooley of RPI on Friday night, trailing 18.9 to 18.7 ppg. With an overwhelming second half, Llanos put the scoring title discussion to rest by sinking 33 points, while Pooley was held to 10 tallies. In the end, the gap for Llanos (19.3 ppg to 18.5 ppg) was wider than it appeared until the last contest.

Llanos finished with 33 points, including nine 3-point field goals, just one short of his own single-game school record. He finished with 482 points on the season, the eighth-highest single-season mark in Clarkson history, and 1201 points in his career, which ranks 10th all-time for the Knights. John Coleman produced his second consecutive double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while his brother Jerry Coleman (Potsdam, NY) also added 20 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. Charlton finished with 13 points, six assists, and three steals.

For RPI, Erik Hatton had 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting, while Pooley finished with 10 points, but shot only 3-for-15 from the floor.

Clarkson was the only Liberty League team to top 100 points twice against RPI this season.