Dan Anderson scored in double-figures with 13 points, but the St. Lawrence men's basketball team fell to the Renssalaer Engineers by a score of 47-38 Friday night in Canton, N.Y.
The loss snaps the Saints three-game winning streak, as they are now 4-2 overall and still looking for their first win in Liberty League play.
"We battled hard against a really good team tonight," said Saints head coach
Chris Downs. "But I don't think we are in the kind of shape we need to be in. That's on me. I don't think our offensive schemes and execution are very good, and that's on me as well. The guys are leaving it out there."
In the opening half, both teams bore down defensively, forcing late shot clock situations and turnovers. The score was 7-7 at the midway point of the half, and with 4:38 left to go, a layup by Syroka allowed the Saints to take a 14-11 lead, which was the largest lead for either team up to that point. The teams headed into the locker room knotted at 14 apiece in the low-scoring affair.
In the second half, the Scarlet and Brown started with two consecutive buckets from Anderson and
Andrew Cowan to obtain an 18-14 lead, but shortly after, Renssalaer got into a groove offensively by scoring 14 points in just over seven minutes, eventually taking a two possession lead 28-24 with 12:58 left in the game.
St. Lawrence stuck with the Engineers for the next few minutes, but RPI opened up a seven-point lead, 35-28, with six minutes left. In the last few minutes of the game, Anderson knocked down another three and
Gavin Macaulay had a layup, but other than that, the Saints couldn't manage any field goals the rest of the game and late free throws sealed the deal for the Engineers, who remained undefeated with their win.
Anderson was also second on the squad with five rebounds while
Adam Dudzinski led the team with eight rebounds and had two assists as well.
The Saints will seek their first Liberty League win in their next game against the Skidmore Thoroughbreds, Saturday, December 7 at 4 p.m. at Burkman Gymnasium.
