Albany, NY - The energy was back in the building for this game. The last home game before winter break, and the gym was rocking. Men take home the win in a hard fought matchup against Clinton Community College. 

The gym was once again electric, as the Panthers were trying to find answers to get back into the win column. The game started out a little slow for the Panthers, as they were struggling to make a shot to begin the game. The visiting Cougars came out like the were on a mission to get attack the basket, and the Panthers weakness, the three point shot. Halfway through the first half, the Panthers once again found themselves trailing by double digits only scoring 6 points in the first nine minutes. The Panthers were once again changing their strategies to find any answer they could for a win. Once they fell behind though, the chemistry seemed to start to kick in as the Panthers started to lock up on defense, get stops, and push momentum to their side. Overall, the team started to click well and 4 of 5 starters were able to find the bottom of the net to bring the Panthers within one point going into halftime. The leading man of the half for the Panthers was Brett Richards (Kinderhook, NY) with 11 points. 

Coming out of the break, neither the Panthers or Cougars were ready to let the other side grapse at the momentum. Both sides were exchanging buckets that continued to make the game a close contest. It wasn't until a little over half way through the second half Joel Martineau (Au Sable Falks, NY) hit a three that got momentum going for the Panthers, and forced the Cougars to take a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Panthers continued to play some of the best defense they have played all season, tallying 9 total steals in the half. Up by as many as 11 shortly after the timeout, the Cougars started to make their own run that put them down by 5. This forced coach Coleman to call a timeout, and regroup his guys. That's is exactly what happend, as the Panthers jumped out to a 14 point lead again out of the timeout. The team showed that they can play well through each other and not just rely on one person to do the scoring. Richards finished with 25 points, and 10 rebounds for his sixth double double in his young career. It was also a Richards one handed dunk from his non dominant hand that sent the building into a frenzy. Outside from Richards, the Panthers saw a strong performance overall. Martineau dropped 13 points, 4 rebounds, Abe Pogue (Oradell, NJ) dropped 14 points, 11 rebounds for his first double double on the year. Myles Washington (Alexandria, VA) finished the scoring double figures for the Panthers with 11 points and 6 rebounds of his own. 

After the game coach Coleman was asked his thoughts on the game, and how it felt to be back in the win column. "I think it is more important for the guys, rather than us coaches. They sometimes lose confidence, lose faith, they stop believing in each other. We always break with 'believe' so it's more important for them, because I believe in them, but I need them to believe in themselves. Wins and losses bring that confidence, so I am very happy for them. We have two more games to end the semester, and hopefully we can finish 3-0 to end the semester." 

The Panthers will have the next couple days off before heading to Massachusetts to take on Lesley University on 12/10 

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