Hamilton defeated Clarkson University 79-68 while Rensselaer edged St. Lawrence University 77-71. The Continentals (18-7) and the Red Hawks (16-9) are the top two seeds in the tournament. The two will play for the conference championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament that goes with it at Scott Field House on Feb. 28 at 4 p.m.
Top-seeded Hamilton will be playing in its second straight conference tournament title game. The Continentals’ five starters scored all its points. Greg Leone notched 19 points and became the 27th Hamilton player to record 1,000 points in his career. Leone now has 1,009. Tsakane Ngobeni registered his 13th double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Joe Smith added 17 points and a game-high 16 boards. Tim Welchons chipped in 13 markers and C.J. Cantil contributed 11 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Josh Harner led Clarkson (15-11) with 15 points. Nick Jones, Russ Vitallo and Jon Youngmann added 10 points each. Kevin Williams grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.
The Continentals took a 6-4 lead 2:14 into the game, pushed the advantage to 41-29 at halftime, and never trailed in the second half. The Golden Knights climbed to within four points once late in the second half, but couldn’t get closer.
Rensselaer’s Neal Wesson came off the bench to score 11 second-half points and lead the Red Hawks back from a 10-point second half deficit. Wesson’s three-pointer with 1:34 left gave Rensselaer the lead for good at 71-69 and ignited a game-ending 9-2 run. Wesson was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, including 3-for-3 from three-point range.
Jared Hite scored a game-high 26 points, grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds and handed out five assists for the Red Hawks. John Van Schaick added 17 points for Rensselaer, which made 10 of its 16 three-point attempts and shot 54 percent from the field.
Five players scored in double figures for St. Lawrence (17-8), which had its six-game win streak snapped. Aaron Marshall led the Saints with 14 points. Keith Sullivan had 13 and a game-high seven assists. Matt Blue chipped in 12 points and Ahmad Toussaint and Nick Laettner added 11 apiece. Toussaint was credited with four steals.