The St. Lawrence University men's basketball team dropped their conference opener 71-44 at the hands of Rensselaer on the road Friday night.

The loss brings the Saints' record to 3-3 overall on the season, as they look to get back over .500 and earn their first Liberty League win in their next game Saturday evening.

Rensselaer rode a hot start, in which the Saints found themselves trailing by 20 at halftime, with the score at 41-21 Engineers. With the score at 5-3 early in the first, the Engineers went on a 17-point run to put themselves in a 22-3 lead over the Saints. The lead grew as high as 26 before St. Lawrence cut it down going into the break.

RPI outscored the Saints again in the second half, but this time by seven as the Saints strung together some points for a respectable back half of the game.

The Saints were led by Aidan Macaulay's 10 points offensively. Andrew Cowan had a team-high six rebounds.

St. Lawrence continues their road swing to kick off the season when they face Skidmore Saturday.