WORCESTER, Mass. – The Clark men's basketball team (13-10, 5-7 NEWMAC) played their final home game of the season and hosted their senior day game against Babson (15-8, 8-4 NEWMAC) on Saturday afternoon and led at the half, but were edged 66-62 by the Beavers.

Prior to the game, senior Charlie Trey-Masters and graduate student Joel Arteaga were honored for their contributions to the Clark men's basketball program.

How it Happened

• Clark opened the game on a 13-6 run over the first seven minutes of the contest sparked by six points from sophomore Kekoa McArdle, a three-pointer from first-year Reid Neumann, and buckets from Arteaga and junior Mikey O'Brien.
• The Beavers scored the next seven points of the game before junior Jordan Richard ended the run with a pair of made free throws and an and-one layup from junior Bruce Saintilus extended the Clark lead to 18-16 with 9:12 left in the first half.
• McArdle made another layup to push the advantage to four and Arteaga found McArdle with 6:26 to go in the first to give the Cougars a 24-18 edge.
• O'Brien took it to the hoop with 5:16 to go and made a layup to extend the lead to 28-21 and a pair of Saintilus free throws pushed the advantage to 32-23 with 2:38 remaining in the half.
• McArdle found a cutting Saintilus with 1:54 left in the half to extend the advantage to double-digits at 34-23 and O'Brien scored Clark's final points of the frame as the Cougars took a 36-30 lead into the break.
• McArdle scored six of the Cougars first eight points to open the second half, with his last layup coming off a feed from O'Brien as Clark held a 44-39 edge with 14:35 to go.
• The Beavers then went on a 10-0 run over the next three minutes before the Cougars scored five straight to tie the game at 49-49 with a McArdle bucket and a made three-pointer from Neumann.
• McArdle gave Clark a two-point edge with 10:06 remaining in the game with a made layup off a feed from Taylor and an and-one layup with 9:21 to go made it a 54-52 contest.
• Saintilus connected on two more free throws two minutes later to push the lead to four before Babson scored the next five points of the game to take a 57-56 lead with 4:49 remaining.
• McArdle scored the Cougars next four points to help Clark regain a 60-59 advantage with 3:41 to go, but the Beavers answered with a three from Ryan Cibull to take a 62-60 with 3:12 left.
• Neither team scored over the next 2:46 of action as both defenses set the tone before Andrew Kirkpatrick hit a jumper to give with 0:26 remaining to extend the lead to four at 64-60.
• Richard then put up a three that came up just short and Kirkpatrick went to the line and made both to extend the Babson lead to six at 66-60 with 0:05 to go.
• O'Brien hit a layup before the buzzer as Babson came away with a 66-62 victory.

Inside the Box Score

• The Cougars grabbed 36 rebounds, dished out 14 assists, and forced 10 turnovers.
• McArdle netted a career-high 28 points on 14-16 shooting and pulled down 15 rebounds.
• Saintilus added 14 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
• O'Brien also reached double-figures with 10 points and three rebounds.

What's Next

The Cougars will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Springfield for a road NEWMAC contest beginning at 7:00 p.m.