WORCESTER, Mass. – The Clark men's basketball team (9-3, 1-0 NEWMAC) opened the new year and NEWMAC campaign with a convincing 89-61 victory over MIT (2-8, 0-1 NEWMAC) on Wednesday night from the Kneller Gymnasium.

How it Happened

• MIT hit the first shot of the game to go up 3-0, but Clark responded with a 14-0 run sparked by five points from junior Jordan Richard and buckets from junior Mikey O'Brien, sophomore Kekoa McArdle, sophomore Isaiah Taylor, and first-year Reid Neumann.
• After the Engineers ended the Cougar run, the scarlet and white responded with another 14-0 spurt led by four points from Taylor, three points from both graduate student Joel Arteaga and Richard, and baskets from sophomore Donovan Price and O'Brien to take a 28-5 lead with 8:10 to go in the first half.
• Neumann scored Clark's next six points with a three-pointer and an and-one layup before McArdle scored the team's next four points to take a 38-10 lead with 4:01 remaining in the first half.
• First-year Aedan Derrick scored four of Clark's final nine points to end the half with the other buckets going to Neumann and Taylor as the Cougars held a 47-18 advantage at the break.
• Neumann picked up where he left off to open the second half with a pair of made three-pointers and hit a third three-pointer of the second half with 16:09 to give the Cougars a 60-25 edge.
• After another McArdle layup, Neumann hit his fourth three-pointer of the second half and a triple from sophomore Ian Calabrese extended the lead to 70-34 with 10:56 to go.
• Richard then connected on a three-pointer with 7:30 remaining before sophomore Caleb Henty Brown netted the first two points of his collegiate career on a pair of free throws to give Clark a 79-46 lead.
• Derrick scored six of the Cougars final 10 points, with Arteaga and first-year Nate Edwards-Roseney netting the other four points as the scarlet and white came away with an 89-61 NEWMAC opening win.

Inside the Box Score

• The Cougars grabbed 50 rebounds, dished out 27 assists, and forced 20 turnovers.
• Neumann netted a career-high 23 points and connected on six three-pointers.
• McArdle recorded his fifth double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
• Derrick scored a career-high 12 points and grabbed five rebounds.
• Richard also reached double-digits with 11 points and added four steals.
• Taylor added nine assists and eight points.

What's Next

Clark will be back in action on Saturday afternoon with a road NEWMAC contest at Wheaton beginning at 1:00 p.m.