NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Clark men's basketball team (13-1, 2-1 NEWMAC) got back in the win column with a 96-90 win against Coast Guard (3-8, 0-2 NEWMAC) in a high scoring contest on Saturday afternoon from Roland Hall.

How it Happened

• Clark took an early 10-6 lead sparked by five points from sophomore Mikey O'Brien and two points from both graduate student Tyler Davern and first-year Isaiah Taylor and a three-pointer from sophomore Bruce Saintilus tied the game at 13-13 with 11:30 left in the first half.
• Coast Guard then led by as many as eight before O'Brien connected on a triple and a three-point play from graduate student Biko Gayman pulled the Cougars within two at 26-24 before a pair of O'Brien three-pointers got Clark within one at 32-31 with 4:56 to go in the first half.
• Saintilus and Taylor hit triples in what was a 37-37 game before the Cougars ended the half on a 12-2 run led by six points from Gayman, five from Saintilus, and a three from Taylor helped Clark take a 51-39 lead at the half.
• Saintilus and Taylor combined for Clark's first eight points of the second half as the two teams traded buckets as the Cougars led 59-48 and an and-one layup from O'Brien pushed the lead to 62-48 with 16:12 remaining.
• Coast Guard pulled within five before Davern connected on a triple and graduate student Matthew Waggett pushed the lead up to eight before the Bears pulled within three at 72-69 with 8:27 to go.
• Taylor and Saintilus again helped lead Clark's offense with the next eight combined points as the teams continued to trade buckets as Clark led 79-76 and a pair of Gayman free throws extended the lead to 81-78 with 4:53 left in the game.
• Davern then took over with a jumper and a layup to push the advantage to 87-81 and the graduate student then connected on a triple to push the lead to seven at 92-85 with 1:44 to go.
• Saintilus made three free throws down the stretch to help guide Clark to a 96-90 victory.

Inside the Box Score

• Saintilus led the team with 26 points on 8-15 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds.
• O'Brien netted a career-high 20 points on 7-9 shooting and pulled down seven rebounds.
• Taylor scored 18 points and grabbed five rebounds.
• Davern and Gayman also scored in double-figures with 15 and 13 points respectively, while Gayman led the team with nine assists.
• Clark grabbed 42 rebounds, made 16 threes, dished out 16 assists, and recorded seven steals, while forcing 14 turnovers.

What's Next

The Cougars will return to the court on Monday when they welcome Wheaton to the Kneller for a NEWMAC contest beginning at 7:00 p.m.