Potsdam, NY - A slow start was suffered by the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team on Friday night and despite a furious comeback in the second half the Golden Knights dropped a 61-55 Liberty League decision against Rensselaer.

The Golden Knights fell to 8-12 overall and 5-6 in the Liberty League, while Rensselaer edged back over .500 at 10-9 overall and 4-6 in conference games. Clarkson will look to even its conference record up once again when the team takes on Union College on Saturday afternoon.

On the team's first shot of the game, Conrad Zampier made a basket in the lane at the 19:08 mark, but that was the last time the Knights would score a field goal for nearly 10 minutes as the team missed 14 straight shots before Felix Abongo finally converted at the 9:16 mark. The Engineers had raced out to a double-digit lead by that point and maintained their advantage for most of the half and the saw the margin settle at 13 points at the break. Clarkson shot just 4-for-26 from the field and was unable to make a shot from beyond the 3-point arc in eight attempts.

It took a while for things to get better for the Knights in the second half as Rensselaer continued to make shots and extended their lead to 20 points (37-17) at the 15:27 mark following a 3-pointer from Jonathan Luster. A few moments later the margin was still 20, but Clarkson then began to chip away at what appeared to be an insurmountable deficit. Clarkson went on a 12-0 run in a stretch of four-plus minutes, capped off by an Abongo layup at 7:22 to pull within six (45-39), but the Engineers had an answer on the other end when Tom Horvat responded with a 3-pointer from the elbow-extended. Though Clarkson would again fall behind by double digits, the team rallied back once more as Drew Zlogar buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the 2:31 mark, but once again Rensselaer countered with a 3-pointer from Luster with just under two minutes to go. From that point on, it was about RPI taking care its opportunities from the free throw line, and the Engineers finished the game with a six-point win.

Abongo recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 boards, shooting 6-for-13 from the field and 5-for-6 from the line. Conrad Zampier and Derek Hart each added in 10 points, while Liam Ellise added in eight points and three assists. For Rensselaer, Horvat a game-high 21 points, going 8-for-12 from the floor and 4-for-7 from the arc. Luster took just four shots, but made three of them and finished with eight points and nine boards. Tyler Gendron came off the bench to score 10 points, doing most of his damage from the free throw line with six makes in eight attempts.