LANGHORNE, Pa. – The Cairn University men's basketball team won their fifth-straight game via an 82-66 victory at home against non-conference adversary Saint Joseph's Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Highlanders improved to 4-0 at home on the season, tying the most consecutive home victories to start a season since the 2003-04 campaign, a team coached by Cairn Athletics Hall of Honor member, Dick Beach.
"Today was a good team win." remarked Head Coach Jason O'Connell. "We had six guys with eight points or more in the game. I was really encouraged by how well we shared the ball and I thought our guys made the extra pass. We wanted to really push in transition to keep their defense from getting set, and we did a good job of that."
Cairn (5-2) set the pace early, jetting out to a 12-5 lead over Saint Joseph's Brooklyn (2-5) through the first five minutes, highlighted by three triples by fifth-year Mizz Nyagwegwe (Norristown, PA / Eastern Mennonite University). The Highlanders led by 10 (30-20) at the 6:52 mark of the first half, before a quick 9-0 run helped Cairn gain a commanding 18-point lead (47-29) at intermission.
The Bears kept things close, cutting the deficit to 11 at its lowest point (69-58) with 6:24 left to play, but the Highlanders quickly silenced the comeback effort with a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to put away the Bears.
Cairn shot 45.3% (29-64) from the field in the contest compared to 43.1% (25-58) shooting for Saint Joseph's Brooklyn. The Highlanders connected on 42.3% (11-26) of their shots from long range, and assisted on 19 of their 29 made field goals. Cairn won the game in the turnover battle, forcing 19 Bears' turnovers and scoring 22 points off of those miscues.
Cairn was led offensively by fifth-year Jesse Rivera (Doylestown, PA / Central Bucks East) who tallied his second double-double of the season with 14 points and a game-high 11 assists. Rivera was followed by Nyagwegwe, who scored a team-high 15 points off of a five-for-eight mark from long range. Rivera and Nyagwegwe each snatched a game-high three steals. Two other Highlanders finished in double figures, with junior Derian Bradford (Lansdale, PA / University of Valley Forge) contributing 13 points while fifth-year Kameron Clark (Ewing, NJ / Ewing) added 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Junior Matt Lucas (Quakertown, PA / Quakertown HS) finished with nine points on three triples, while classmate Josh Forker (Telford, PA / Faith Christian) added eight points and a career-high five assists.
The Highlanders will be back on the floor on Monday, December 5, when they make the trip to the Big Apple to take on The City College of New York in non-conference action at 7 p.m.