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Soaring Eagles send Clarkson men's hoops to first loss of season

Posted 12/6/14

Potsdam, NY - A 12-for-15 performance from beyond the 3-point arc by a pair of Elmira players was enough to put the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team on its heels for much of the second half …

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Soaring Eagles send Clarkson men's hoops to first loss of season

Posted

Potsdam, NY - A 12-for-15 performance from beyond the 3-point arc by a pair of Elmira players was enough to put the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team on its heels for much of the second half and overtime as the Golden Knights suffered their first loss of the season, a 76-68 defeat on Friday evening at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights fell to 6-1 on the season, while Elmira evened its mark at 2-2 overall. Clarkson will take the next few weeks off before returning to compete in the Springfield Invitational during the first week of January.

In the first half, Elmira took little time establishing a presence from beyond the 3-point arc and held a four-point lead in the early going. Clarkson quickly erased the deficit and pushed out to a seven-point edge (25-18) with just under five minutes to go and appeared ready to take off, but the Soaring Eagles deflated the run edged back within three at the break. Elmira quickly came back in the second half and took the lead in the early going as the two teams went back and forth with the lead. Timely 3-pointers from both Justin Henderson and Neil Randolph answered every attempt at a run by Clarkson as the the Knights struggled to get some rolls on shots from the interior. Those misses looked as if they would haunt the Knights with Elmira up 62-54 with 1:20 remaining, but Clarkson made key shots down the stretch, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer from John Coleman (Potsdam, NY) to send the game to overtime. With seven seconds to go, Dylan Hodownes (Honeoye Falls, NY) dribbled down the right sideline and found Coleman at the top of the key and the senior calmly sunk the shot with 0.2 seconds remaining.

In overtime, Clarkson gained the lead at the 3:26 mark on a Hodownes lay up, but the Eagles would score the next eight points over the following three minutes, keyed once again by a Henderson 3-pointer. Down by six with less than 30 seconds to go, the Knights finally got another shot to fall on a Coleman lay up, but it was too little too late and the Green and Gold could not complete a second comeback.

Coleman finished with 22 points, shooting 10-for-17 from the field, and added in six rebounds, two blocks and a steal before fouling out. The steal helped him tie the all-time program mark in that category (181). Junior Felix Abongo (Beacon, NY) added 21 points, seven boards, and three steals. For the Soaring Eagles, Henderson finished 8-for-10 from beyond the 3-point line for 24 points, while Neil Randolph shot 9-for-13 overall and 4-for-5 from distance for his 24 points. Gino Leonardi chipped in 12 points, seven boards, and five assists as well.