POTSDAM, N.Y. - Freshman Will Rubin scored 17 points and classmate Jonny Angbazo had 13 to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team to a record-setting victory, 74-71 over Clarkson University. The Engineers now have a school record 21 wins (21-3) heading into the regular season finale on Saturday. RPI is 16-1 in the Liberty League, while the Golden Knights 6-11 in the conference and 8-16 overall.

Down by 12 with less than six minutes to go against the top team in the conference, Clarkson went on a furious run but came up just short and remains locked in a tie for fifth in the conference standings with five teams vying for the final two spots in the Liberty League playoffs.

After a layup-and-one by Angbazo put Rensselaer up 12 (64-52) with 5:56 remaining, the Knights began to chip away, with the biggest swing coming on back-to-back 3-pointers from Chris Hulbert in a span of less than 10 seconds to make the score 66-63 with 3:49 left to go. A basket in the paint by Ryan Miles-Ferguson drew Clarkson within one and another make by the freshman 90 seconds later kept the margin at one, but free throws down the stretch allowed the Engineers to keep Clarkson from throwing up a late 3-pointer to tie the game.

Hulbert finished with 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting, including four 3-pointers, and Matt Higgins had 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting. Miles-Ferguson tossed in 11 points despite being limited to just 12 minutes due to foul trouble. Black also had 13 points for the Engineers.

Though Clarkson attempted to quicken the pace of play, Rensselaer was able to keep things to their liking in the first half, drawing possessions out a little further to keep the game lower scoring. The Golden Knights made the most of their chances in the early going, jumping out to a 13-7 lead through the first five minutes thanks to a 3-pointer from Reese Swedberg and back-to-back driving layups by Matt Higgins and Robert Welch.

The Engineers responded with eight straight points, and while their run was stopped briefly by a Clarkson make, they rattled off eight more, capped by a 3-pointer from Rubin to make the score 23-15. RPI held on to the lead for the rest of the half, though Clarkson closed the gap briefly to two on a 3-pointer from the corner by Higgins, making it 27-25. A free throw from Black in the final minute put the gap at four at the break, 33-29.

At the start of the second, Clarkson went cold, going 0-for-5 with five turnovers on its first 10 possessions of the second half, allowing RPI to build a 13-point lead before finally scoring in the second half. Clarkson quickly got back to within single digits, but the Engineers kept the Knights behind by at least two possessions until their other run pushed the lead back to double figures with six minutes to go.

Each team shot 50 percent or better from the field, but the two teams combined for 50 turnovers.