LATE SURGE GIVES HAMILTON WIN

OVER SAINTS, 71-62

Feb. 1: The St. Lawrence University men’s basketball team suffered its first Liberty League loss of the season Friday night as Hamilton College edged the Saints in the final minutes of the closely-contested game to give the Continentals a 71-62 victory over the Saints at Scott Field House in Clinton, NY.

 

St. Lawrence falls to 10-7 overall and 5-1 in the conference, while Hamilton improves to 12-4 overall and 5-1 in the league. Both teams are tied for first place in the conference heading into Saturday’s games.

 

It was back and forth for the Saints and Continentals in the first 20 minutes of the game, which included 10 lead changes and five ties and saw a lead no bigger than four on either side of the court. Both teams were in the double digits less than five minutes into the game and had already seen the lead change hands four times, with Hamilton taking a slight 11-10 lead with 15:49 left on the clock.

 

The Continentals were able to maintain a one-possession advantage until junior co-captain Richard Williams ( Kingston, NY/ Kingston) tied the game 16-16 with 9:35 to go in the half. Sophomore Josh Sharlow (Norwood, NY/Norwood-Norfolk) followed with a three-pointer to give St. Lawrence a three-point edge. Hamilton continued to pour on the pressure, as they quickly regained a small lead until the final minutes of the half, when Saint Sebastian Kurtz ( Newnan, GA/Our Lady of Mercy) tied the game with 1:12 left, but Hamilton’s Jon Ciriello made a jump shot to give the Continentals a 39-37 edge heading into halftime.

The second half saw both teams struggle to put the ball in the basket, as the Saints shot 30-percent from the field, while the Continentals shot 36-percent. Five more ties and five additional lead changes came about in the first 6:40, but Hamilton followed with an 11-0 run in the middle of the period to give them a 9-point lead with 9:50 to go.

 

The Saints cut that lead down to as little as one after a lay-up from Williams, who brought the score to 61-60 in favor of Hamilton with 5:40 left. The Continentals were then able to keep the Saints scoreless from that point on, scoring 10 unanswered points until first-year Ben Araya ( Westborough, MA/Westborough) made a jumper with 15 seconds to go, but it wasn’t enough as Hamilton walked off the court with a 71-62 victory.

 

Offensively, Williams led the Saints with a double-double, scoring 15 points and totaling 10 rebounds, while Sharlow tallied 10 points.

 

The Saints will travel to Geneva, NY on Saturday to face conference opponent Hobart. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00pm.