Adam Dudzinski posted 27 points, tying his career high, as the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team downed the SUNY Poly Wildcats 61-58 in a tight contest Tuesday night at Burkman Gymnasium. 

The Saints improve to 4-1 on the year and hold a three-game win streak with Liberty League play looming. 

"We continue to struggle on the offensive side of the basketball," said Saints men's basketball head coach Chris Downs. "SUNY Poly is a good team and likely will be in the top few teams of the Empire 8. It is good to see us get results against strong opponents; we have unbeaten and regional power Rensselaer here Friday. That presents a huge challenge for us."

The early part of the first half was low scoring, with neither team eclipsing 10 points until nearly 10 minutes left in the half. The Wildcats eventually got their offense going and went on an 8-0 run in the middle part of the half, leading 15-8 with 8:51 left. 

Late in the opening half, the Scarlet and Brown were trailing 21-15, but went on a 10-0 run to claim a four-point lead which was their largest of the game. Dudzinski had five points and Trey Syroka connected with Chris Downs Jr. a couple of times in this span as the Saints led 25-21 with under a minute left. At the half, the Saints led 27-25 with Dudzinski scoring 13 of these points. 

The Saints continued to hold a slim lead early in the second half, but Downs hit a jumper and then Dudzinski drained a three on the next possession to give the Saints a 41-33 lead with 13:51 left to play.

SUNY Poly got within two 47-45 with 9:10 to go but the rest of the game, St. Lawrence made their shots when they needed them. Dan Anderson hit a jumper with 1:50 left to make the game 57-51, the Saints went 4-for-4 from the free throw line towards the end, and forced a late turnover to secure the victory. 



Dudzinski also had nine rebounds to lead the Saints and three steals as well. Anderson was in double figures with 11 points and Downs led the Saints' bench with nine points and six rebounds. Syroka also contributed with six assists and two steals. The St. Lawrence defense held SUNY Poly to 34 per cent shooting and a 3-20 mark from beyond the arc. 

The Saints will be back in Burkman on Friday, December 6 where they will host the Rensselaer Engineers at 7:30 p.m.