POTSDAM, N.Y.—St. Lawrence University (5-3) held off a late charge from the SUNY Potsdam men's basketball team (1-5) on Friday night and went on to a 65-60 victory. Senior guard
Rishawd Hendricks (Brooklyn, N.Y./Mount Zion Christian Academy) had a career-high 20 points to lead the Bears, while senior captain
Zac Adams (Potsdam, N.Y./Potsdam) finished with 17. Sophomores Kyle Kobis (Elma, N.Y./Berkshire School) and Kieran Miller (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) each scored 15 to lead the Saints and fellow sophomore Willie Zachery (Atlanta, Ga./Druid Hills) chipped in 13.
The Saints slowly built a slim lead over the first half of the opening 20 minutes. A Kieran 3-pointer gave St. Lawrence its largest advantage of the first half at 16-11. Potsdam answered with an 8-1 run over the next five minutes and an Adams jumper gave the Bears a 19-17 lead. The teams traded buckets over the remainder of the period, but two Hendricks layups gave Potsdam a 27-25 lead at the break.
The teams went back in forth with neither gaining more than a two-point lead until the 9:46 mark of the final half. A 5-0 run gave the Bears a 43-39 advantage. A three from Kobis knotted the score at 43-all, but Potsdam freshman forward
Tishsean Emmanuel (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) answered with a three. It only slowed SLU's momentum as the Saints rattled off 13 straight for a 56-46 lead with 4:27 to go. Hendricks drained a 3-pointer to close the gap to 56-50 a minute later, but the Saints found away to stay out front of the Bears. Junior guard
Joe Estramonte (Greenwich, N.Y./Greenwich) connected from long range with eight seconds left to get Potsdam within 63-60, but Zachery sank two free throws two seconds later ice the victory.
Estramonte just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. Junior forward
Tariq McIntyre (Brooklyn, N.Y./Thomas Jefferson) scored six points and collected four boards and Emmanuel finished with five points and seven rebounds.
Massena native and senior forward Brady Condlin (Massena, N.Y./Massena) had seven points for the Saints.
SLU edged the Bears in shooting 41.7 percent to 39.7 and rebounding 37-36. The Saints hit 38.9 percent (7-18) of their 3-pointers.
The Bears are now off until Jan. 3, when they face Hilbert College in the first round of the Hilbert Hawks Tournament at 5 p.m.
