Worcester, Mass. - Nicholas DaPrato (Marshfield, Mass.) went an efficient 9-for-13 from the field en route to a game-high 21 points with four assists and four rebounds as he helped pace Clark to a 70-53 win over Worcester State in non-conference men's basketball action at the Kneller Athletic Center.

With the win the Cougars improve to 4-5 while the Lancers fall to 2-6 on the season. Clark moves to 18-7 in the all-time series dating back to 1982.

Andrew Musler (Belmont, Mass.) also propelled the hosts with 18 points and Tyler Huffman (West Hartford, Conn.) recorded 12 points off the bench. Joseph Atkinson (Milford, Mass.) did a little bit of everything to help his team out with five points, four rebounds and five helpers.

For WSU, Paul Brooks (Arlington, Mass.) poured in a team-best 15 points off of a seven-for-eight field goal line on the ledger and senior Brendan Rios (Easthampton, Mass.) tallied 14 points and eight rebounds.

In addition to Noris Cuevas-Nova (Amherst, Mass.) chipping in with ten points and five caroms, Charles Gunter (Boston, Mass.) and Manny Cabral (Roslindale, Mass.) both combined for eight of WSU's 12 assists.

With Worcester State nursing an 11-9 lead seven minutes into the contest, the visitors doubled up Clark 10-5 and the run was capped off on back-to-back treys by Keeler to help the Blue and Gold open up a 21-14 edge with 11:30 on the clock.

The Lancers held a 31-20 margin at the 6:18 mark, the Cougars took advantage of six missed shots from the field and four turnovers and closed out the stanza with a 14-0 spurt for the 34-31 score at the intermission.

Five different players scored for Clark, with Huffman and Atkinson bookending the surge with trifectas.

The two squads went basket for basket to start of the second period and Worcester State pulled to within three points with 13:31 remaining following a Brooks lay-up (46-43).

The Cougars though increased the gap by taking full advantage of six WSU miscues over a five minute span in a 10-1 run to go up 56-44, highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers from DaPrato.

With the hosts ahead 59-49 and 6:41 remaining in the game, Clark never relinquished the rest of the way and finished the contest with their largest lead for the final score.

Both team shot extremely well from the field as Worcester State hit 45 percent of their attempts (23-for-51) while Clark sank 43 percent for the contest (28-for-65) and connected on nine triples (9-for-22).

The Cougars also led in points off turnovers (23-12), second-chance baskets (11-7) and fast-break points (12-6) while points in the key were even at 30-30. WSU led in total rebounds 36-32.

Worcester State ends the fall semester on Thursday with a 7:00 p.m. game against Western Connecticut at Nichols.

Clark will next play in the D3hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas, Nev. and face off against Colorado College on Sunday, December 28 at 11:00 p.m. eastern time.