LANGHORNE, Pa. – The Cairn University men's basketball team won, 86-70, at home against Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) opponent Saint Elizabeth University inside the Mason Activity Center on Wednesday evening.
"Tonight was a great team effort from top to bottom." remarked Head Coach Jason O'Connell. "I thought from the tip off our guys played inspired and for one another. On the defensive end, we were outstanding holding their top two players to seven-for-28 from the field. Offensively, we did a great job sharing the ball and our players made the extra pass. One of our goals was to get paint touches and finishing with 46 points in the paint was big."
Cairn (11-7, 6-1 CSAC) had its foot on the gas early, jumping out to a 21-13 lead over Saint Elizabeth (6-10, 3-4 CSAC) just under eight minutes in. Over the next 12 minutes, the Highlanders exploded, concocting a 26-7 run to take firm control of the contest and held a commanding 47-20 lead at intermission.
Cairn kept control of the bout through the midway point of the second half, leading by 25 (71-46) with nine minutes to play. The Eagles made a formidable push, sparking a 13-0 run from that point to cut the deficit to just 12 (71-59) at the 6:16 mark. The Eagles trailed by 11 (78-67) with just over three minutes remaining, but back-to-back buckets by Cairn junior Derian Bradford (Lansdale, PA / University of Valley Forge) sealed the win for the Highlanders.
Cairn shot 48.6% (36-74) from the field and held the Eagles to a paltry 37.1% (26-70) field goal percentage. Cairn connected on 39.1% (9-23) of its long range tries, and dominated the rebounding category (53-37). The Highlanders did most of their damage inside to the tune of 46 points in the paint, and assisted 19 of their 36 buckets.
Cairn was led on offense by fifth-year Kameron Clark (Ewing, NJ / Ewing HS), who posted his second 22-point, 12-rebound game of the season. Bradford followed with 19 points, eight boards and four assists, while junior Josh Forker (Telford, PA / Faith Christian Academy) added a season-high 14 points on a perfect six-for-six mark from the field. Sophomore Christian Rivera (Doylestown, PA / Central Bucks East) posted arguably the best game of his career manning the point for the Highlanders, dishing out a career-high 11 assists in the victory.
With the first round of CSAC games now complete, Cairn will start to see teams for the second time this season. The Highlanders will start round two of the conference schedule in Phoenixville on Saturday, January 28 as they go for the season sweep against the University of Valley Forge at 2 p.m.