Riley Naclerio scored 19 points leading five players into double figures as the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team opened the 2016-17 season with an 88-84 victory over SUNY Potsdam in a non-league matchup in Maxey Hall in Potsdam.

The Saints (1-0) connected on six of seven free throws in the final 1:45 of the game to seal the victory. Naclerio hit four free throws, Willie Zachery hit three of four for the Saints.

"That is early season basketball," said head coach Chris Downs. "We made a lot of mistakes but did the things we needed to down the stretch to win the game. Early in the year we will take the win but we know there are some things we need to work on to get better."

Kyle Kobis finished with 18 points including five three-pointers, Kyle Edwards had 13 while Zachery added 12 and Dom DeRegis added 11 for St. Lawrence. Ben Crawford scored nine points and added a team-leading nine rebounds. Naclerio was 11-of-15 from the free throw line and grabbed seven rebounds.

The Saints won the season opener for the first time in five years with the last win in the first game of the year coming in 2011 with a victory over SUNY Oswego.

In the first half, Potsdam (0-1) jumped out to a 22-14 lead thanks to a 13-0 run but the Saints answered with an 11-0 run to tie the score at 22-22. St. Lawrence built a pair of nine-point leads before the end of the first half and held a 39-33 advantage at the break.

In the second half, Naclerio converted a three-point play giving the Saints an 11-point advantage at 51-40 with 16:32 left to play. Potsdam trimmed the lead all the way down to two points at 66-64 with 9:01 remaining but St. Lawrence scored the next eight straight points to regain the advantage.

St. Lawrence held a 74-64 lead at the 6:45 mark but the Bears battled back to within three points at 80-77 with 1:18 left on the clock leading to the St. Lawrence free throw success down the stretch to secure the victory.

The Saints return to action over the weekend with games at the Ken Wright Memorial Tournament in Amherst. St. Lawrence will face Johnson & Wales at 8 p.m. Friday and play either Green Mountain College or Amherst, ranked No. 1 in the nation, Saturday at either 1 or 3 p.m.