Springfield, Mass. - January 15, 2020 - The Springfield College men's basketball team raced past Clark, 100-65, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Wednesday in Blake Arena.
Tonight's game pitted the only two teams in the conference that opened up their campaigns with 2-0 records. The Pride, ranked 19th in the most recent D3hoops.com National Poll, improved to 12-2, 3-0, while Clark slipped to 7-7, 1-2.
Jake Ross (Northampton, Mass.) totaled 31 points and 13 rebounds in 22 minutes of action while Heath Post (Cheshire, Conn.) registered 17 points and hauled in 13 rebounds. Post etched his name in the record books as he set a program record for defensive rebounds in a career, eclipsing the previous total of 704 that Michael Parker set from 1998-2002, as he now owns 713 defensive boards through 98 career games. Daryl Costa (Providence, R.I.) handed out a career-best seven assists, and both Collin Lindsay (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Trey Witter (Unionville, Conn.) added 11 points. Springfield tied a program record with 16 three-pointers made in the game, including seven by Ross. The Pride owned a 52-30 edge on the glass, including 19 offensive rebounds.
For Clark, Biko Gayman tallied 21 points and Zackary Mettlestadt came off the bench for 19 points. Tyler Davern pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds.
After Lindsay buried back-to-back triples to give Springfield a 12-7 lead at the 15:16 mark, Clark responded with 12-straight points, including three-consecutive trifectas from Mittelstadt to open a 19-12 advantage as the hosts called for a timeout at 13:15.
The Pride would methodically get back into the contest, led by a a pair of inside buckets from Witter, and tied the game up at 24 on a corner triple from Post to force the Cougars into a timeout. Springfield would eventually cap off its 15-5 burst on a wing three from Costa to go up 27-24, and not look back as it closed out the final eight-plus minutes on a 24-10 run. Clark would get within 37-31 on a three-pointer from Joel Arteaga with 3:41 on the clock before Ross took over, pouring in nine points to fuel a 14-3 half-closing run en route to a 51-34 halftime advantage. Ross led the way in the opening half with 17 points and eight caroms for the Pride.
Post flushed a dunk in transition inside the first minute as the lead ballooned to 21 points and Clark would call for a timeout at 17:18 when Ross knocked down a wing three pointer which allowed the hosts to take a 60-36 advantage. Another three pointer from Ross at 15:49 allowed the lead to grow to 68-48 and an inside bucket from Harper Niven (Nashua, N.H.) gave Springfield a 86-47 cushion at 9:40. Clark would get no closer than 31 points and Joe Fontanella (Littleton, Mass.) drilled a corner three with less than two minutes remaining for the Pride's 16th three of the game as Springfield would eventually earn the 35-point conference win.
Springfield will travel to Boston to take on Emerson in a rematch of last year's NEWMAC Championship Semifinal. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 pm.
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