LANGHORNE, Pa. – The Cairn University men's basketball team held onto first place in the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) standings following a slim 79-77 victory at home over Clarks Summit University inside the Mason Activity Center on Wednesday evening. With the win, Cairn University ninth-year Head Coach Jason O'Connell became just the fourth coach in the program's storied 72-year history to reach 100 career victories, joining Don Martindell, and Cairn Athletics Hall of Honor members Dick Beach and David Unger as the only members of the prestigious 100-win club.
"It means a lot to me getting to 100 career wins." remarked O'Connell. "I've poured my heart and soul into building the men's basketball program at Cairn and am blessed to have achieved this milestone. A lot of people contributed to this and it wouldn't have been reached without the commitment and dedication from my family, assistant coaches, and players both former and present."
The battle between two of the CSAC's hottest teams lived up to the hype early on, as Cairn (13-7, 8-1 CSAC) and Clarks Summit (5-14, 4-5 CSAC) traded leads and momentum throughout the first half. Neither team held more than a one possession lead for the entirety of the first 20 minutes, and Clarks Summit clung to a slim one-point advantage at intermission (37-36).
The Defenders gained the early second-half edge, taking a five-point lead (43-38) just two minutes in. Cairn then made its run to the tune of a 13-2 sprint, re-taking the lead and claiming a 51-44 edge at the 14:24 mark. The Highlanders extended the lead up to 11 at its largest point (61-50) with 10:12 to play. The Defenders did not go away, trimming away at the deficit until a Kelvin Chest triple at the 4:18 mark granted them a 69-68 lead with 4:18 remaining. The lead remained at one (73-72) with 2:49 to play, before back-to-back buckets by junior Derian Bradford (Lansdale, PA / University of Valley Forge) and fifth-year Jesse Rivera (Doylestown, PA / Central Bucks East), followed up by a pair of free throws by classmate Kameron Clark (Ewing, NJ / Ewing HS) gave Cairn a five-point lead (78-73) with just over a minute remaining. Clarks Summit responded with consecutive buckets, and trailed by two (79-77) with five seconds to play. Needing to go the length of the floor, the Defenders made one last push to the rim, but didn't get a shot off after mishandling the ball near the painted area as time expired, sealing the win for Cairn.
"Tonight was a hard fought win." added O'Connell. "I thought we started the game without the focus we've been showing as of late especially on the defensive end. While it wasn't the prettiest win, I was glad we were able to figure it out at and push through."
Cairn shot the lights out to the tune of a 50.8% (30-59) clip, compared to a 45.2% (28-62) mark for Clarks Summit. The Highlanders held a slight edge in rebounding (37-33) and assisted 19 of their 30 baskets. Cairn won the bout with its bench scoring, outpacing the Defenders 35-7 in that area.
Cairn was led by Clark who notched his third-straight double-double, tallying team-highs with 18 points and 12 boards, respectively. Bradford followed with 12 points, while Rivera added eight points and a game-high eight assists. Junior Owen Bradford (Lansdale, PA / University of Valley Forge) and sophomore Christian Rivera (Doylestown, PA / Central Bucks East) each finished in double figures with 10 points a-piece, while Bradford posted a perfect five-for-five mark from the field.
The Highlanders will be back on the floor on Saturday, February 4, when they travel to Chambersburg looking for the season-sweep against defending conference champion Wilson College (12-8, 6-3 CSAC) at 2 p.m.