Pittsford, N.Y. – Clark junior Brian Vayda (Sturbridge, Mass.) scored a season-high 26 points, including the 1,000th of his career and the Cougars advanced to the championship game of the Woodcliff and Spa Invitational with an 83-73 overtime win over Penn State Behrend on Wednesday evening at Saint John Fisher's Napier & Manning Gymnasium.
The win for Clark (5-6) snapped a two-game losing streak and hands the Lions (7-1) their first of the season.
Vayda, meanwhile, becomes the 26th player in men's basketball history at Clark to eclipse the 1,000 point barrier – a feat he accomplished in just 67 games.
Playing in their first game in 18 days, the Cougars raced out to a 22-9 lead following a Vayda triple less than ten minutes into the game. Clark maintained the lead for the rest of the half and took a 32-25 edge into halftime on the strength of a defense that held Penn State Behrend to 38 percent first half shooting.
Things changed dramatically over the next 20 minutes as the Lions' made 71 percent of their shots (15-for-21) and Chris Saltzman erupted for 24 second half points, including four in the final 23 seconds to even the score at 64 and force overtime.
After Saltzman scored a basket to open up the extra stanza, Vayda, scored eight of the game's next 12 points as the Cougars opened up a 74-68 lead midway through the frame. In fact, Vayda outscored PSU-Behrend himself in the extra session (10-9) as he made six of his game-high 13 free throws to seal the game.
Saltzman led all scorers with 35 points (14-for-23), while Russ Conley added 19 points and six boards for the Lions, who only had five players score in the game.
In addition to Vayda, who played a game-high 41 minutes, Mitch Renshaw (Rutland, Mass.) added 18 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Travis Curley (Trumbull, Conn.), meanwhile, added 15 points in a career-high 39 minutes and Drew Billington (Fairfield, Conn.) added a career-best nine points.
Clark will face tournament host Saint John Fisher (4-5), who defeated Farmingdale State in the second game, on Thursday at 3:00 p.m.