CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Juniors Tyler Davern (Webster, Mass.) and Biko Gayman (Fort Pierce, Fla.) combined for 53 points, including 31 during a fiery second-half, as the Cougars were held off by MIT in a 90-84 overtime battle in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) on Wednesday night. 

The Basics

Score: Engineers 90, Cougars 84 (OT)

Records: Clark University (8-10, 3-4 NEWMAC) | MIT (10-8, 3-4 NEWMAC)

How it Happened

Gayman notched a game-high 27 points and seven assists with the guard pulling down five rebounds as well. With this performance, he continues a streak of 18 straight double-figure scoring games this season. Davern turned in 26 points of his own to pick up the sixth 20-point performance this year while leading the team in the paint with nine rebounds and one block.

Sophomore Zackary Mittelstadt (Wilton, Maine) contributed 11 points to lead the team's reserves, doing so on 3-of-8 from three-point distance in a career-high 41 minutes of action. Junior co-captain Charles Stevens (Bronx, N.Y.) chipped in nine points, knocking down three shots from beyond the arc while also recording three rebounds and two assists. Sophomore Antonio Lapeyrolerie (Plano, Texas) led the way defensively, coming up with a game-high four steals while corralling six rebounds.

Giannis Chatziveroglou led the Engineers with a 26-point showing while corraling a game-high 13 rebounds to go with two blocks. Ian Hinkley and Dan Pilsbury rounded out the double-figure scorers for MIT with 20 and 14 points respectively.

The game opened up as tightly-contested battle with the Cougars taking an early 9-4 lead before MIT came back to nab a 10-9 lead of its own with 14:25 to play in the half. With 12:20 on the clock, a triple from Davern and a fast break lay-up from Anthony Grzembski (Webster, Mass.) on the next possession gave Clark a 19-12 margin. Neither team would separate by more than seven points the remainder of the half.

Mittelstadt was feeling it from beyond the arc over the final 3:30 with the sophomore canning all three of his three-pointers during that time to lead a 16-15 scoring advantage for Clark. The first-half buzzer sounded on a 39-39 tie score.  

MIT grew its lead up to ten points midway through the second half until a three-pointer from Stevens with 8:30 left in regulation sparked an eight-point unanswered streak to trim the deficit to single digits. With 5:10 left, a pair of free-throws from Davern triggered another run with Gayman following up with seven consecutive points for a 75-73 Cougars' lead.

The Engineers jumped in front briefly before a pair of free-throws from Gayman swung a 77-76 lead back to the visitors. The Engineers went onto tie it up with 28 seconds left on free throws from Matas Masys. Clark controlled possession for the final shot with Mittelstadt getting up a good look, with his chance unable to fall to send the game into overtime with the 77-77 score.

In overtime, the back-and-forth theme of the game continued with MIT taking the first lead following a lay-in from Masys. Clark came right back as Gayman's step-back three-pointer atop the arc swung a one-point lead back to the Cougars.

After a made free throw from MIT tied it up, the Cougars would again jump in front as a tough lay-up in traffic from Davern gave the team an 82-80 advantage. MIT went on a 4-0 run to regain a two-point edge before a steal by Davern and transition lay-up from Lapeyrolerie knotted the score up at 84-84. The Engineers secured the win at the charity stripe, canning 6-of-10 inside the final minute en route to the 90-84 final.

Clark shot 27-of-64 from the field (42.4%) while connecting on 15-of-36 from beyond the arc (41.7%). MIT shot 28-of-62 overall (45.2%) and 9-of-24 from three-point range (37.5%). The Engineers controlled a 45-35 advantage on the glass with a 34-24 lead in points on the interior.

Up Next

Clark heads home on Saturday, February 1 when it takes on Springfield College for a 1:00 pm NEWMAC matchup.