Potsdam, NY – Freshman Felix Llanos (Queens, NY) reached double figures for the first time in seven games off the bench, leading the Clarkson University Men’s Basketball team to a 67-58 victory over Skidmore College in Liberty League action Friday night at Alumni Gymnasium.
The Golden Knights ended a three-game losing streak in conference to improve to 12-8 overall and 3-6 in the Liberty League, while the Thoroughbreds dropped to 7-13 overall and 2-7 in league games.
Skidmore roared out the gate by forcing turnovers and making their lay ups on the interior, racing out to an 11-2 lead with just over four minutes expired from the contest. After a 30-second timeout taken by the Knights, Clarkson recovered and pulled to within one before falling back momentarily, finally gaining their first lead at 4:29 on a 3-pointer from Llanos, his second long range shot in less than 30 seconds. Skidmore quickly responded, though, and regained the edge just a minute later, something it would not relinquish for the remainder of the period.
Llanos scored six points to lead the Knights, and Elson Pickering (Brooklyn, NY) added in six points. Both Brandon Linton (Queens, NY) and Keith Murray (Queens, NY) had five points for Clarkson. Freshman Terron Victoria led Skidmore with eight points, making a variety of mid-range jumpers, while junior Jon Douglas added in eight more points, with six coming on free throws.
Early in the second half, Skidmore continued to hold its lead, edging out five in the opening minutes, but Clarkson went on a 15-5 run over seven minutes of action to take back the lead. After the two teams were tied back up at 51-51, a basket from sophomore George Koduah (Accra, Ghana) seemed to spark the Golden Knights, as the team ended the game on a 16-7 run over the final four minutes.
Four finished in double figures for Clarkson, led by Llanos’ 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting. Pickering also added 13 points and 8 rebounds with Brandon Linton and Brian Salanger (Syracuse, NY) contributing 12 and 10 points, respectively. Salanger also had five assists.
Freshman Terron Victoria shot 6-for-11 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line for his game-high 16 points to lead the Thoroughbreds. Jon Douglas contributed 13 points and 3 blocks.
