Potsdam, NY – Senior Blake Gearhart continued on his recent scoring streak with a 24-point game on Saturday, but his effort was not enough for the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team as the Golden Knights fell to Rensselaer 68-56 in Liberty League action at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights fell to 9-14 overall and 6-10 in conference games, and the team was officially eliminated from postseason contention. Rensselaer improved to 16-7 and 10-6. Clarkson closes out the regular season next weekend at Union and Skidmore.

In an odd shift compared to the low-scoring game a month ago, the two teams started off scoring at a high pace in the first few minutes. The Knights had seven points in less than 90 seconds and Rensselaer came back to tie the game at 9-9 through four minutes, as each team was on a 90-point pace. The runs for each team slowed slightly by the midway point, as Clarkson trailed by one when Jack Dalgety made a layup with 9:45 remaining to put the score at 19-18. Over the next two minutes, the Engineers scored eight straight, with 3-pointers coming from Brian Kelly and Dylan Matchett. After a Blake Gearhart jumper with five minutes to go trimmed the margin to six, the Engineers went on a 10-1 run over the next few minutes and eventually finished with a 14-point lead at the break (44-30).

RPI shot 58.6% from the floor in the first half (17-for-29) with six 3-pointers, while Clarkson was shooting at a 42.9% rate, though much of that success came from Gearhart, who accounted for 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting in the first half.

The Engineers opened the second half with a 10-0 run in about five minutes before Clarkson finally got on the board with a 3-pointer from Gearhart. Though Clarkson was still stalled on offense, RPI had similar struggles, as neither team scored for close to four minutes near the midway point of the half. That drought hurt the Knights more than the Engineers, as RPI was able to shoulder the burden of a late Clarkson burst in the final minutes.

Gearhart surpassed the 20-point mark for the third straight game, scoring 24 on 9-for-17 shooting, including a 5-for-11 effort from beyond the arc. Finn Cork, Teddy Fravel, and Ryan Miles-Ferguson each chipped in eight for the Knights.

For RPI, Dom Black finished with a double-double on 17 points and 11 rebounds and Avery Eugster scored 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting.