Four members of the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team netted double digits, but the Saints fell to SUNY Potsdam, 84-74, in the season opener on Tuesday night at Burkman Gymnasium.

Luke Hicks led the Saints with 20 points, shooting a perfect 8-for-8 from the line, while Andrew Geschickter finished with 14, Brandon Arnold scored 12 and Miles Davis added 11. Arnold shot 3-for-4 from the arc, while Chris Jeffrey grabbed a team-best seven rebounds. Davis and Adamson each recorded one block, while Hicks grabbed two steals and Arnold dished out four assists.

After an early back-and-forth battle, the Saints pulled ahead 15-11 on back-to-back 3-pointers from Arnold. SUNY Potsdam quickly tied the game at 15 and extended their lead to 24-18. Hameed Dawodu went 2-for-2 from the line to increase the Bears lead to 12, but the Saints managed a 13-0 run to take a 37-36 lead.

The Bears pushed back, extended their lead back to double digits with just about three minutes remaining in the first half, and led 63-49 at halftime.

SUNY Potsdam maintained its lead through most of the second half. The Saints pulled within nine, but the Bears shot 3-for-3 from the line to seal the win.

"We showed some resiliency and there were a few bright spots tonight," said head coach Chris Downs. "But, we made too many mistakes, turned the ball over too much and gave up too many offensive rebounds. We've got to make a lot of improvement on both ends of the floor before we're ready for the Liberty League."



Jayquan Thomas shot 8-for-15 from the floor and led the Bears with 21 points, while Brandon Segar Jr. finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Tyrese Baptiste also recorded a double-double with 10 points and a team-high 14 rebounds. Thomas also grabbed three steals for SUNY Potsdam.

The Bears shot 43.1 from the floor, while the Saints shot 40.0 percent from 3-point range.

St. Lawrence fell to 0-1 on the season, while the Bears improved to 2-0.

The Saints will travel to Plattsburgh, New York to take on the Cardinals on Tuesday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m.