Chris Downs Jr. had 20 points to pace the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team as they broke out for a 52-point second half and came back to beat regional foe Clarkson 75-63 at Alumni Gymnasium in Potsdam, N.Y.

The Saints outscored the Golden Knights by 20 in the second half after falling behind by as many as eight points earlier in the contest.

Clarkson took an early six-point lead in the first half, which forced the Saints to play catch-up from essentially the opening tip. They did just that minutes later, on back to back jumpers from Tommy McMahon and Downs to bring the score back to a two-point deficit. They then took the lead just after the 16-minute mark on a jumper from Downs.

Clarkson was able to pull back into the lead following that SLU run and held an eight point advantage at the half. However, from that point on it was all St. Lawrence.

They began chipping away at the Golden Knights' lead right out of the break. Two straight layups from Adam Dudzinski and Aidan Phelan cut the lead down to four, but Nate Abernathy drilled a three-ball for the Golden Knights shortly thereafter which gave Clarkson a seven-point edge again.

SLU seized momentum with a quick 6-0 run, sparked by Parkes slicing to the rim for a layup and completing the three-point play to put the Saints up 41-39. Clarkson briefly answered when Abernethy scored on a strong drive and later hit a free throw to reclaim the lead at 13:31, the last time the Knights would be in front.

The Saints then tightened their grip on the game. An 8-0 stretch over the next three minutes created separation, and they went up by seven on two different trips before DeRegis buried a deep straight-on three to stop the skid and cut it to 51-47. SLU countered again, this time with an 11-2 run that pushed the margin to 62-49 at the 5:25 mark as Clarkson struggled to get clean looks and turned the ball over during a critical stretch.

Burns knocked down two free throws to bring the Knights within nine with 3:14 remaining, but St. Lawrence locked it down defensively from there. The Saints ultimately shot 60.6 per cent from the floor in the second-half.

The Saints next play Tuesday, in a short turnaround time for their next home action. Plattsburgh State comes to Canton for a 7:30 p.m. tip at Burkman Gymnasium.