POTSDAM, NY – The RIT men's basketball team (10-8, 5-4 Liberty League) lost at Clarkson University (15-3, 8-1 Liberty League) Friday evening, 72-53. Despite the loss, the Tigers sit in fourth place in the Liberty League standings, holding onto the final tournament spot.
 
RIT shot 40.7 percent from the field on 22-for-54 shooting. The Tigers made just 5-of-16 from behind the arc, and shot 4-of-10 from the foul line. AJ Horde (Oak Park, MI/University of Detroit Jesuit) led RIT with 15 points, six rebounds and three steals. JP Reagan (Cortland, NY/Cortland) chipped in seven points and four rebounds, while Miguel Lopez (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/St. Francis) and Anthony Lewis (Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili) each scored six points off the bench.

John Coleman led Clarkson with 16 points, three rebounds and four steals. Dylan Hodownes tallied 13 points and nine rebounds, while Felix Abongo added 10 points for the Golden Knights who shot 50.0 percent fro the floor.

RIT did hold a lead in the first half. A Lopez layup at the 16:11 mark of the first half gave the Tigers an early 8-4 lead. Later in the half, Joe Stortini (Red Hook, NY/Loomis Chaffee) scored off a feed from Horde at the 12:05 mark, capping off a four-point burst by RIT, giving the Tigers a 14-10 lead. RIT's last lead of the game came with 10:31 to play in the first half on a layup by Lopez giving the Tigers a 17-16 edge.

The Tigers stayed within two points of the Golden Knights down the stretch of the first half. Reagan, Casey Bobelis (Bradenton, FL/Braden River) and Horde each scored for the Tigers late in the half. The Golden Knights scored the final four points of the half, taking a 26-22 lead into halftime.

RIT shot 9-of-30 (30.0%) from the field in the first half, including 2-of-9 from behind the arc. Horde led the Tigers with 10 points and five rebounds in the opening half.

Four quick points to open the second half extended the Clarkson lead to 32-22 on a layup by Coleman just 48 seconds in. Reagan answered back for the Tigers with a three on RIT's next possession, cutting the lead to 34-27.

After a Lopez 3-pointer cut the Golden Knights lead back to seven points, Coleman rattled off four straight points for Clarkson, extending the Golden Knights lead to 40-29 on his layup with 16:53 to play. Clarkson would build its lead to 13 points before a Horde 3-pointer with 13:16 to play cut the lead to 46-38.

RIT fell behind again, but rallied to pull within eight points once again on a Horde layup with 11:47 to play. That would be as close as the Tigers would get to Clarkson in the second half, as the Golden Knights slowly built up their lead.

RIT scored 26 of its 53 points in the paint, and got 19 points off the bench. Clarkson scored 22 points off of 19 RIT turnovers. RIT falls to 46-32 all time versus Clarkson and have lost eight straight to the Golden Knights. RIT's last win over Clarkson came back on Nov. 25, 2007.
 
The Tigers return to action on Saturday, Jan. 31 with a road contest at league foe St. Lawrence University that gets underway at 4 p.m.