Canton, NY – Recovering from a 15-point first-half deficit, the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team's defense clamped down in the final 10 minutes and came all the way back to claim a 57-56 win over St. Lawrence University on Tuesday evening.

The Golden Knights kept their playoff hopes alive with the win, improving to 7-12 overall and 4-8 in the Liberty League, while St. Lawrence fell to 11-7 and 7-5. Clarkson hosts RIT and Hobart this weekend.

The final 20 seconds saw each team commit a turnover, a missed front end of 1-and-1 free throws, and two short shots in the lane, as the Golden Knights picked up the win.

Things did not start off well for the Knights, as the Green and Gold found themselves trailing 18-3 with barely five minutes ticked off the clock. Trent Adamson's layup at 14:48 gave the Saints a 15-point lead as the home team opened the contest 8-for-10 from the floor. The rest of the half wasn't as kind for St. Lawrence, with the team shooting just 4-for-17 after Adamson's lay in.

Clarkson took advantage, trimming the lead to five on a Teddy Fravel layup at 10:08. The game was quiet for close to five minutes, with only one free throw scored from 9:48 to 5:31, when Clarkson's Kreem George hit a jumper. George closed out the scoring in the first half when he hit a 3-pointer with 29 seconds left to put the score at 31-25 at the break.

St. Lawrence held a modest lead for most of the second half, expanding the margin to nine on a few occasions, with the latest occurrence at the 12:17 mark following a Jack Wirtanen layup that made the score 46-37. Clarkson slowly reduced the gap, coming back to within three after a 3-pointer from Malachi Harris at 10:04. A few minutes later, Garret Delaney dropped in another 3-pointer to get the Knights within two. St. Lawrence continued to struggle on offense, having scored only two points after Wirtanen's make, and the Knights took the lead on a layup-and-one from Teddy Fravel, giving Clarkson its first lead of the game at 4:17. Just 37 seconds later, Blake Gearhart dropped in a 3-pointer, and the Knights had just enough offense to keep St. Lawrence at a distance.

After Aydin Kocak hit a free throw at 1:19 to put the score at 57-53, Gavin Macaulay went down the court and got a basket-and-one to put the Saints down just one. The final minute saw no more scoring, however. Up one with 30 seconds left, Ryan Miles-Ferguson turned the ball over, giving the Saints the ball back and a chance to take the lead. On the following inbound play, Trent Adamson was unable to catch the pass cleanly, and the ball bounced off his foot and out of bounds. St. Lawrence was forced to foul, and a free throw from Blake Gearhart was unable to hit the mark. Racing down to the other end, Aidan Macaulay put up an awkward short jumper that bounced off the rim into the hands of Adamson. The senior got a clean look from about six feet away, but his attempted put back clanged off the rim and ended the game.

Gearhart finished the game with 13 points, while Miles-Ferguson added nine points and eight rebounds. Clarkson got 22 points off the bench while the starters had 35 points. For St. Lawrence, Adamson and Gavin Macaulay each scored 13 points, Aidan Macaulay had 10 points, and Trey Syroka produced six points and seven assists.