WORCESTER, Mass. – The Clark men's basketball team (11-0) concluded the 2021 portion of its season unblemished with an 82-72 victory against Wentworth (4-5) on Thursday afternoon from the Kneller Gymnasium in the final game of the Clark Holiday Tournament.  

The 11-game winning streak is the programs longest since 2000-01 when they won 11 straight and the best start since 1985-86 when they won 13 straight to start the year. The Cougars also end non-conference play with an 11-0 record.

How it Happened

• Clark opened the contest on an 11-2 run led by four points from sophomore Bruce Saintilus, a three from graduate student Tyler Davern, and buckets for graduate student Matthew Waggett and first-year Isaiah Taylor with 13:22 left in the first half.
• Wentworth then took the lead at 14-13, but the Cougars fought back to tie the game at 18-18 on a made jumper from graduate student Biko Gayman and a layup from Saintilus with 8:48 remaining in the first.
• Davern and Taylor each connected on triples to give Clark a two point lead at 26-24 and a Waggett and-one layup put the scarlet and white up 29-28 with 2:53 to go in the first before the Leopards ended the back-and-forth half with a 33-32 advantage despite another Davern triple.
• Saintilus and Gayman both connected on threes to start the second half and a Taylor layup with 14:44 remaining to pull within four at 44-40.
• After trailing by as many as nine, Clark went on an 8-0 run led by two points from sophomore Kolby Randolph, Taylor, Saintilus, and Waggett to pull back within one at 49-48 and a Randolph triple kept the deficit at one at 54-53 with 8:18 to go.
• Taylor scored seven of Clark's next nine points, including a three with 4:58 to give Clark a 62-61 advantage and another Taylor triple extended the lead to 65-63 with 4:33 remaining.
• Taylor, Saintilus, and Randolph sparked a 6-0 run to take an eight point lead at 71-63 with 3:16 left and a Davern three with 2:09 to go helped push the lead to double-digits at 76-65 and the Cougars came away with an 82-72 win.

Inside the Box Score

• Taylor led the team with a career-high 25 points while also recording seven steals and dishing out six assists.
• Saintilus netted 17 points and pulled down nine rebounds.
• Davern recorded his third double-double of the year with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
• Clark grabbed 36 rebounds, made 10 threes, dished out 15 assists, and recorded 13 steals, while forcing 20 turnovers.

What's Next

The Cougars will return to the court on Wednesday when they open conference play with a road contest against MIT starting at 7:00 p.m.