CU Men's Basketball Preview - vs. St. Lawrence University (2/5)

By: February 4, 2019

Men's Basketball | 2/4/2019 11:00:00 AM

In the middle of its five-game home stand, the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team will take on its closest conference rival in St. Lawrence University on Tuesday evening.

Live Stats/Live Video

The Series: Clarkson has played no team more than St. Lawrence, competing against the Saints 193 times in the past nine decades. The Golden Knights swept the series last year with two double-digit wins, but St. Lawrence is up this year with a 68-63 win in early December.

Key Stats for Clarkson (4-15, 3-9 Liberty League): In the first meeting of the season, Clarkson had trouble in the first half with 26 points, but tossed in eight second-half 3-pointers to close the gap to only two points late in the game. The Knights lead the conference in 3-pointer field goals made, averaging 10.7 per game, nearly double the output of St. Lawrence (5.4 per game). However, Clarkson is allowing opponents to shoot 48.9% from the floor and is suffering from a deficit of 9.4 rebounds per game. Following a mid-season shooting slump, senior Mathew Hornak has made multiple 3-pointers in five of the last seven games and produced a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the first meeting against St. Lawrence.

Key Stats for St. Lawrence (14-6, 11-2 Liberty League): The Saints do not do anything particularly remarkable to dominate opponents, they simply win close games. St. Lawrence has outscored its opponents by a grand total of 14 points this year, but have eight more wins than losses. Nine of St. Lawrence's 11 wins in conference have come by single digits, including six by five points or less. The team's top closer is graduate student Riley Naclerio, who averages 14.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. Senior Ben Crawford leads the conference in both field goal percentage (56.4%) and rebounding (8.9 rpg) to go along with 12.7 points per contest. Freshman Luke Hicks ranks fourth in the league in assists (3.7 apg) and is third on the Saints in scoring with 9.6 points per contest.

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