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PLATTSBURGH — The Thanksgiving break is coming at a good time for the Clinton Community College Cougars.

The Cougars, after opening the season with four straight victories, have lost their last three, including a 67-58 decision to Hudson Valley Community College Monday night.

Kevin Daugherty attributes the streaky play to growing pains of a young team.

"We're not happy about losing three in a row, but we need to get it across to the kids that we are a young team and that we will learn from our mistakes," the CCC coach said. "We will get better."

Daugherty said he's not that surprised with the Cougars' 4-3 record heading into the first break.

"The four wins were all tough, close games," he recalled. "We have had some mental lapses in all our games, but they ended up costing against some pretty good teams. Adirondack, Cayuga and Hudson Valley are all very good teams with winning records."

Clinton stayed with Hudson Valley (5-2) for the first half, which ended in 28-all tie. But the Vikings took a quick six-point lead to start the second half.

"We lost our focus; we got down as many as 10 the second half," Daugherty said.

"We had a really hard time stopping (Ramel) Alexander. He's a 5-11 guard who is really good at going by people and backing people down. We worked hard to stop him, but couldn't."

Alexander led all scorers with 27 points while Steven Hunt netted 14 and Patrick Lanoue, 11.

Julio Garcia, one of the region's top rebounders, led Clinton with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

Justin Vice contributed 16 points.

"Vice shot very well. In fact, we should have worked harder to get him more shots," Daugherty admitted.

Clinton is off until a week from tonight when it hosts Paul Smith's College.

"It's good to have a break, five days off. It's pretty good timing for us," Daugherty concluded.

Hudson Valley CC 67, Clinton CC 58

Hudson Valley (67)

Mafrici 0-1-1, Alexander 13-1-27, Robustiano 0-1-1, Harte 2-0-4, Lanoue 5-0-11, Keefe 3-3-9, Hunt 5-4-14. Totals 28-10-67.

Clinton (58)

Alexander 2-0-4, Hodge 5-3-14, Vice 6-0-16, Garcia 8-1-17, Saunders 0-0-0, Hardy 1-0-3, Hall 0-0-0, Waiters 1-0-2, Lettrick 1-0-2, Culler 0-0-0. Totals 24-4-58.

3-point goals: HVCC (1) Lanoue. CCC (6) Hodge, Vice 4, Hardy.

Halftime: 28-28.