Troy, N.Y. - Despite trailing by as much as 14 at one point in the second half, the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team battled back to within three with less than a minute left but would ultimately fall to RPI, 52-48, Friday evening. 

Clarkson drops to 4-3 overall, 0-2 in the Liberty League and will face Union on Saturday, November 6th, to wrap up the last road trip of 2025 for the team. RPI moves to 5-2 overall, 1-0 in league play. 

The Engineers would gain an early 8-4 advantage heading into the first media timeout of the game off the back of threes from Pat White and PJ Scalisi. Following a Nate Abernethy lay-up and RPI cashing in on one of two free throws, Aydin Kocak knotted the score up at nine apiece with a wing trifecta off a feed from Steve DeRegis. Abernethy would then give the Knights their first lead of the evening, draining two free throws of his own to make it 13-12 at the 12:17 mark. 

Both teams continued to trade buckets as Braeden Burns made it 16-15 in favor of the hosts with a turnaround in the paint as the first half entered the final 10 minutes. After another bucket from the hosts, Burns would again connect on a contested mid-range shot. A stop on the defensive end led to an offensive break for the Knights that sent Burns to the line after being fouled, where the junior went 1-2 to tie the score at 18 with 7:50 remaining in the half. 

RPI countered with a 5-0 run up to the 5:53 mark to gain the game's biggest lead up to that point as the Engineers would go up 23-18. A quick response from Kocak with another wing trifecta brought Clarkson back to within two as less than four minutes would remain in the half. The Engineers would then go up 27-21 following a 4-0 run before Kocak would rattle off five straight with a layup and stepback three to bring Clarkson back to within one, 27-26, headed into the halftime break. 

The hosts would jump on a 6-0 run straight out of the break, using offensive rebounds and steals to push the lead to seven in just under two minutes. DeRegis would get the Knights on the board in the second half, following a timeout with a triple, his first of the game after foul trouble in the first half. A swift reply from RPI saw the lead grow to 38-29 with 16:30 left before Lorenzo Rappa finished a drive at the rim to stop the run and bring the deficit back to seven. On the very next trip down the floor, the Engineers would continue to be hot to start the half as an Andrew Deppe three made it 41-31 with the hosts shooting 6-8 from the field over the first five minutes. 

Both teams would then go scoreless over the next five and a half minutes until Ben Phillips finished a turnaround jumper in the lane to make it 41-33 in favor of the Engineers. RPI would then get some offense of their own going, capitalizing on three straight trips, pushing the advantage up to 47-33 with 8:36 remaining in the contest. A missed three on the offensive end for Clarkson led to a stop on the defensive end that was then followed by another driving finish from Phillips to cut it to 12 headed in the eight minute media timeout. 

As the defense strung stops together, Burns and Matt Toscano would then combine for the next five points as Clarkson would find themselves down 47-40 with just under seven minutes left to go. Burns would then turn that run into a 9-0 stretch with a driving layup as Clarkson found themselves shooting 3-4 over a 2:16 stretch to cut it to 47-42. DeRegis would go to the line with just under three minutes remaining and knock down a pair of free throws as the Knights continued to capitalize on a seven minute scoreless stretch from the hosts. Dylan Matchett would eventually break that drought to put RPI back up five but Burns would provide an immediate response at the other end to keep the lead to just three with under a minute remaining. 

Both teams did not shoot remarkably well with Clarkson going 31% (18-59) from the field and RPI at 32% (18-56) overall. Despite the numerical disadvantage on the scoreboard, Clarkson would actually hold an advantage in most statistical categories including, points in the paint (24-20), fastbreak points (9-5) and steals (9-5) while only turning the ball over nine times. Both teams would combine for just 16 assists. 

Burns led the scoring effort for the Knights with 15 points as well as eight rebounds, playing all 40 minutes. Kocak was the only other Clarkson player in double figures with 11. Ben Rappa had four steals and five rebounds off the bench. Scalisi led all scorers with 16 points, going 6-6 from the free throw line.