Potsdam, NY – Points were at a premium in the final eight minutes of Friday night's game between the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team and Hobart College, but the Golden Knights hit just enough free throws down the stretch to outlast the Statesmen 53-49 in Liberty League action at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights improved to 6-7 in conference games, a key win for tiebreaker implications, and improved to 10-10. Hobart dropped to 13-7 and 7-6. Clarkson looks for the weekend sweep when it faces RIT on Saturday afternoon.

Unlike the first meeting when Clarkson fell in a big hole early, the Knights were streaky but stayed close in the first 10 minutes of the contest. A Lorenzo Rappa hit a 3-pointer at 15:45 to put the Knights up by three, but the nights were on the wrong end of a 9-0 run over the course of three minutes to fall behind by six. Clarkson rallied back to tie the game at 20-20, and things remained close for the rest of the half as the Knights ended up going up by four at the break.

Neither team shot particularly well from the perimeter in the first half, as Hobart was 1-for-11 and the Knights went 3-for-10 from the arc.

Clarkson would never lose the lead in the second half, but the Statesmen were constantly challenging the Knights. A Ben Rappa layup on a nice feed from Finn Cork at 12:57 put Clarkson up 45-33. However, the Green and Gold went cold from the field for the next six minutes as the Statesmen slowly climbed back into the contest, though they, too, only made two shots from the floor in a stretch of six minutes. The shortage of offense continued down the stretch, but in the final minute Clarkson got several important offensive rebounds on missed shots and free throws, with Finn Cork making two clutch shots with 17.5 seconds to go. On the next possession for the Knights, it was Steve DeRegis going two-for-two from the line with 9.5 seconds remaining, and Hobart's final possession came up empty.

Cork was big on the glass, picking up 15 rebounds to go with his game-high 14 points, and Braeden Burns added 11 points for the Knights. Carter Meshanic led Hobart with 11 points and Monty Nedd had 11 rebounds. A key difference in the game was free throws, as the Knights went 12-for-16 but Hobart was only 11-for-23 from the line.