Knights hold off late rally to defeat Giants, 93-87, in CSAC action Saturday

More news about: Keystone

Aston, Pa.—Neumann University held off a late rally to defeat Keystone College, 93-87, in Colonial States Athletic Conference action Saturday afternoon.

The Knights led by 10 at intermission and maintained a double-digit lead throughout most of the second half before the Giants stormed back and cut the lead to three with 18 seconds remaining.  Neumann then sealed it by draining three of four free throws to post their fourth straight win and improve to 15-4 overall and 10-3 in the CSAC.

Junior guard Mark Perry and sophomore guard JT Bennett led Keystone with 19 points apiece and senior guard Mark Gilliam and sophomore guard Jalen Flynn finished with 15 and 10 points, respectively.  The loss was the third straight for the Giants, now 7-11 overall and 6-6 in the CSAC.

Senior guard Tyaire Hudson led the Knights with 26 points and nine assists, sophomore guard Raquan Brown-Johnson added 18 points, and Aaron Johnson-Chavis finished with 15 points and a game-high 20 rebounds.  Neumann shot 68 percent from the field in the second half and 57 percent for the game to avenge a 91-80 loss to Keystone in La Plume in December.

Trailing by eight points with 3:47 remaining, the Giants made a push to pull out the victory.  It started with a 3-pointer by Flynn with 2:48 left and continued with a free throw by Perry and a lay-up by Flynn to cut the gap to three, 87-84, with 1:19 remaining.  Johnson-Chavis then drained three of four free throws after Keystone twice missed 3pointers to give the Knights a 90-84 lead with 31 seconds left.

The Giants made it a one-possession, 90-87, on a 3-pointer by Gilliam before Johnson-Chavis and Hudson drained clutch free throws to seal it.

Despite shooting just under 40 percent from the field and making only 9 of 21 free throw attempts (42.9 percent), Keystone stayed in it by pressuring the Knights into 16 turnovers and converting them into 24 points.  The Giants also held a 35-22 advantage in bench points.

Perry finished with 16 rebounds for Keystone, making it the fourth time in six games since transferring from Millersville University that he has posted a double-double in points and rebounds.   He connected on 8 of 15 shots from the field and had three assists and two steals to go along with his 16 rebounds in 34 minutes of action.

With today's win, Neumann remains in third-place in the CSAC, a half-game behind Cabrini in the loss column for second place, while Keystone is now tied with Immaculata in fifth place, a half-game ahead of Marywood University.  The top six teams in the CSAC advance to the play-offs, which begin with quarterfinal action on Monday, February 19.