CANTON, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men's basketball team (4-3) never trailed in a 63-53 victory at SUNY Canton (2-4) on Tuesday night. SUNYAC Player of the Week, junior center Tyrese Baptiste (Brooklyn, N.Y./Eagle Academy II) continued to power the Bears with the 20th double-double of his career on 23 points and 16 rebounds. Freshman forward Parker Kelly (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Beekmantown) scored 12 points and contributed four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
 
It was all Baptiste and Potsdam early. The center scored eight points in Potsdam's 13-4 run to start to the contest. A three-point play by the Bears standout made it 19-6 at the 11:55 mark of the first half. A bucket from sophomore center Chris Becker (Lake George, N.Y./Lake George) and 3-pointers from sophomore guard Colton Huestis (Ticonderoga, N.Y./Ticonderoga) and senior forward Dante Viskovich (Massena, N.Y./Massena) put Potsdam up 27-11 at 7:50. The scoring was even the rest of the half and the Bears led 26-19 at the break.
 
Viskovich drained another three to open the final 20 minutes of play, giving Potsdam its biggest lead of the game at 20 points. The Roos slowly closed the gap over the rest of the game, but ran out of time. After Canton battled to get within 39-28 on a Danny Santana layup with 15:33 to go, Potsdam went on a 7-0 run, including five straight from the free throw line and a Baptiste layup made it 46-28 at 13:23. The Kangaroos finally answered with a 16-2 run and trailed just 48-44 with 9:02 left. Brandon Averitt scored eight of Canton's points during the stretch. The Kangaroos got no closer as Potsdam scored 12 of the next 16 points. A layup from freshman guard MeSean Johnson (Ogdensburg, N.Y./Ogdensburg Free Academy) made it 60-48 with 3:38 on the clock. Santana scored to get Canton within seven at 0:41. However, Baptiste slammed the door with three free throws to close out the 10-point win.
 
Johnson nearly missed a double-double with nine points and 10 boards, along with six assists. Huestis scored seven points and Viskovich finished with six points and five rebounds.
 
Canton was paced by Santana's 18 points. Peyton Olsen scored 13 points and Averitt had eight.
 
Potsdam has now won four straight over the Kangaroos and is 22-8 in the all-time series dating back to a 53-48 Bears' win on December 17, 1947. Coach Bechtel is 4-1 against his old program.
 
Potsdam hosts NVU-Lyndon on Saturday at 3 p.m. to close out the semester. The Bears won the two teams' only meeting 96-79 in Lyndon two years ago.