TROY, N.Y. – Sophomore Patrick Mahoney had 18 points and nine rebounds and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball built a 14-point halftime lead on its way to a 67-60 victory over St. Lawrence University (SLU) in a Liberty League contest at East Campus Arena.
 
The Engineers improve to 14-10 overall and 9-8 in the conference, while the Saints drop to 16-8 and 13-4. With the win, RPI moves into fifth place in the league standings, one game ahead of Bard College and one behind Ithaca College with one to play. SLU drops to second place, one game behind Skidmore College, which it faces on Saturday in Saratoga Springs.
 
Trailing 17-15 with 9:38 to play in the first half, the Engineers finished the frame on a 20-4 run, including a 13-0 advantage. Senior Marcus Giese tied the score at 17-17 before Tom Horvat hit a three pointer for a 20-17 lead. Giese followed with a dunk, Dom Black had an and-1 and Mahoney scored on a jumper and then a free throw to give Rensselaer a 28-17 lead with 3:55 remaining.
 
The teams traded a pair of baskets each until the end of the half when Horvat found Mitchel Wayand for a right wing three pointer and the Engineers went into the locker room with a 35-21 lead.
 
RPI, which made 42.9% of its first half shots, had 11 assists on 15 made field goals (15 of 35), while holding St. Lawrence to just 29.6% (8 of 27). Mahoney had nine points with four rebounds and Giese had eight and four. Riley Naclerio had nine points on 4 of 5 shooting for the visitors.
 
St. Lawrence started the second half on an 8-0 run to get within six points, 35-29. Naclerio hit a three pointer, Ben Crawford scored on a layup and Naclerio again made a shot from behind the arc. Horvat countered by scoring the next five points on a pair of free throws and a three for a 40-29 lead with 17:28 to play.
 
RPI built a 51-37 lead with 13:28 to play and kept its advantage to more than two possessions until the 2:26 mark when SLU's Christopher Jeffrey scored on a layup. Naclerio made it a five point game (63-58) with a layup at 1:41, but the Engineers had enough success at the free throw line to hold off the Saints.
 
Mahoney made 8 of 13 shots for team-high honors. Horvat had 14 points with six rebounds and six assists and Marcus Giese scored 13 points with five rebounds and four blocked shots. The Engineers finished with 17 assists on 26 made baskets.
 
St. Lawrence was led by Naclerio, who scored 20 points with seven rebounds. Luke Hicks scored 14 points with four caroms.
 
Rensselaer, which has now won four of its last five games, hosts Clarkson University on Saturday, while the Saints travel to Skidmore. Both games are the regular season finales – RPI and SLU have both qualified for the post-season – and both contests begin at 4pm.