Worcester, Mass. - January 27, 2018 - The Springfield College men's basketball team benefited from an incredible performance by Heath Post(Cheshire, Conn.) to pick up its seventh-straight victory by virtue of an 86-71 win at Clark University in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday afternoon in the Kneller Center.
For the first time since the 2004-05 season, Springfield has put together a seven-game winning streak, and now stands at 13-6, 7-1 in conference play. The setback drops Clark to 3-16, 0-8.
Post was outstanding in the win as he set career-high marks for rebounds (16) and assists (7) to go along with 18 points. Jake Ross (Northampton, Mass.) led the Pride with 24 points as he connected on 9-of-14 from the field to go along with six boards. Springfield turned 12 Clark turnovers in 18 points and finished the contest shooting 50% from the floor, going 32-for-64 from the floor.
The Pride jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the opening two minutes and had its lead ballon to 11 following at the 13:39 mark as back-to-back triples from Ben Diamond (New York, N.Y.) and Andy McNulty (West Springfield, Mass.), which gave Springfield a 21-10 advantage. However, the Cougars fought back to come within four when John Pisacreta and Adam Converse hit shots from behind the arc with 8:50 to play to make it 27-23. Springfield would answer right back with a 15-3 surge, capped off by consecutive triples from Cam Earle (South Hadley, Mass.) to extend the lead to 42-26 with 4:10 to play in the half. Pisacreta added seven points in one minute to bring Clark within back within eight and the Pride took the 44-36 lead heading into the halftime break.
After Clark pulled within six early in the second half, jumpers from Post, Brandon Eckles (East Greenwich, R.I.), and Ross pushed the Pride's lead back to 12. Clark would get within six points on four different occasions, the last coming at the 7:04 mark on an inside finish by Luca McCormick, which made it a 70-64 game. However, over the next four-plus minutes, Springfield produced a 13-2 run as five different players registered points to build the visitors lead to 83-66, which would eventually result in the 15-point conference win.
Springfield will look to keep up its winning ways when it hosts Coast Guard at 7:30 on Wednesday in Blake Arena.