First-year Adeleke Karera stunned the crowd with a buzzer-beating steal and dunk to seal a 68-63 Route-11 rivalry win for the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team over the Clarkson Golden Knights in Liberty League play on Tuesday night at Burkman Gymnasium.

St. Lawrence was led by graduate student Riley Naclerio with 24 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Naclerio shot 10-for-18 from the floor and 2-for-5 from the arc. Seniors Ben Crawford and Chris Miner added 14 and 11 points, respectively to round out the Saints' double-digit scorers. Miner (3-for-7 and 5-for-6 from the line) also grabbed five rebounds and picked up one steal for the Saints, while Karera totaled six points, seven rebounds and one steal.

The Saints jumped out to an early 13-8 lead over the Golden Knights, but Clarkson quickly evened the score at 14 and again at 19, before the Saints extended their lead to 34-24. A 3-pointer from Naclerio pushed the lead to 37-26 at the half.

St. Lawrence pushed its lead to 15 to open the second half, but the Golden Knights rallied within four with about 15 minutes remaining. A layup from Matthew Hornak closed Clarkson's gap to just two points with 4:38 left to play in the second.

Clarkson battled within two, twice more, but the Saints kept control and finished the game with a free throw, steal and dunk from Karera for the win.

"We know league wins are hard to come by," said head coach Chris Downs. "And we were fortunate enough to walk away with a win tonight. We happy to be back to .500 and be 2-1 in the conference before we take on Elmira on Friday."



The Golden Knights were led by Hornak, who recorded 13 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 5-for-13 from the floor. Liam Ellis and Chris Hulbert each added 11 points, while Keenan Green recorded seven points and grabbed a team-best three steals. Clarkson combined to shoot 37 percent from the floor and 32 percent from the arc.

St. Lawrence combined to shoot 44 percent from the floor, 30 percent from the arc and 76 percent from the line. 

With tonight's win, the Scarlet and Brown improved to 4-4 on the season and 2-1 in Liberty League play, while Clarkson fell to 0-8 and 0-3.

The Saints will wrap up their six-game home stretch, as they host the Soaring Eagles of Elmira on Friday, December 7. Tip off is set for 8 p.m.