WORCESTER, Mass. – The Clark men's basketball team (8-2) played its first game since the holiday break and opened the Clark Holiday Classic with a contest against No. 2 Williams (10-0) and held a halftime lead, but were edged 86-69 by the Ephs on Thursday afternoon from the Kneller Gymnasium.  

How it Happened

• Clark took an early 11-8 lead led by five points from junior Mikey O'Brien and baskets from sophomores Kekoa McArdle and Isaiah Taylor and junior Bruce Saintilus before a layup from McArdle extended the advantage to 13-10 with 15:10 remaining in the first half.
• McArdle and Saintilus combined to score the next four points as Clark pushed the lead to 17-10 and sophomore Ian Calabrese hit a triple with 12:26 to go in the half off a feed from O'Brien to give the Cougars a 20-12 edge.
• Saintilus and first-year Reid Neumann hit three's to push the lead to double-digits at 28-17 and a Richard triple with 7:20 remaining in the half off a dish from Taylor extended the lead to 33-21.
• Richard then hit another three on the next possession to go up by 15 and a triple from O'Brien with 4:40 to go in the half capped a 9-3 run as Clark possessed a 42-24 advantage.
• Taylor scored the Cougars final two points of the half as the Ephs ended the half on a 12-2 run as Clark took a 44-38 lead into the break.
• McArdle opened the second half with a layup off a feed from O'Brien and later made a layup off another dish from O'Brien as Clark possessed a 48-46 lead.
• Williams took their first lead of the game with 14:58 to go as Declan Porter connected on a triple and then scored six unanswered to push the advantage to 59-50.
• O'Brien ended the Eph run with a three of his own and a Taylor layup with 12:30 remaining got Clark back within four at 59-55 and a layup from first-year Nate Edwards-Roseney got the scarlet and white back within seven at 64-57.
• O'Brien hit another triple with 9:44 to go to make it a 66-60 ball game, but the Ephs responded with eight unanswered points, with the run ended by another McArdle layup in a 74-62 contest with 6:20 remaining.
• Williams closed the game out on a 12-7 run with buckets coming from McArdle, Edwards-Roseney, and graduate student Joel Arteaga as Clark fell 86-69.

Inside the Box Score

• The Cougars grabbed 30 rebounds, dished out 19 assists, and forced 11 turnovers.
• McArdle netted a career-high 19 points on 8-10 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds.
• O'Brien added 14 points and seven assists.
• Richard scored eight points and connected on a pair of three-pointers.

What's Next

Clark will be back in action tomorrow with a home contest against No. 25 Nazareth beginning at 2:00 p.m.