Men’s basketball squeezed two close wins out of the weekend, bringing their record to 9-7 for the season.
On Friday night they went head-to-head with the Clarkson Golden Knights. The end of the first period found the Red Hawks behind by three points. The Red Hawks stormed back in the second half, and mounted a comeback to defeat Clarkson 59-54. The Red Hawks were led by the stellar play of Paris Moore and Jared Hite. Paris had a team high 17 points in the win, and Hite poured in 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Saturday, Rensselaer took on the Saint Lawrence Saints. The Red Hawks again fell behind at the half, this time trailing by a score of 43-42. Again, though, RPI made a strong second half surge to put away the Saints 38-31.
All five Red Hawk starters needed to play well to counter the 28 point effort of Saint Lawrence’s Aaron Marshall. The starting five scored 76 of the Red Hawks’ 80 points, led by John Van Schaick’s 24 and Kevin and Paris Moore with 14 points each. The men will be at home next weekend, taking on the Hamilton Continentals at 6 pm on Friday and the Hobart Statesmen at 2 pm Saturday.
The women’s basketball team also faired well over the weekend against the same North Country opponents. In Potsdam on Friday, the Red Hawks led at the half by two, and continued on to win the game by 10. Kristin Kaczynski led the way with 18 points and Kaitlyn Saunders had 17 in the victory over the Clarkson Golden Knights.
On Saturday, the team traveled on to Saint Lawrence. The Saints came out strong and took a first half lead over the Red Hawks. Rensselaer couldn’t get through the Saint Lawrence defense and fell 64-55. Kaczynski again led the way for the Red Hawks with 18 points, and Saunders helped with 15 points and seven rebounds. The Rensselaer women are 9-5 on the season and will play at home against the Hamilton Continentals at 8 pm Friday and William Smith Herons at 4 pm Saturday.
