WORCESTER, Mass. – No. 2 Clark men's basketball (20-6) welcomed No. 6 Emerson (11-16) to the Kneller in a NEWMAC Quarterfinal clash in front of a packed Kneller Gymnasium and used a strong second half to propel them to the NEWMAC Championship with a 78-70 come-from-behind victory over the Lions on Thursday night.

The scarlet and white will host the NEWMAC Championship on Saturday afternoon when they host No. 4 Babson beginning at 1:00 p.m. This is the Cougars first appearance in the NEWMAC Championship since the 2009-10 season when they beat WPI 74-68.

Coach Simms Quote
"Our guys really played hard for 40 minutes, and they responded well in the second half to a good, well-coached Emerson team,". "I thought they punished us for the mistakes we made, but our guys kept battling and fed off the energy in the Kneller. And that was the difference in the second half, we were aggressive in everything we did and the ball finds energy!"

How it Happened

• Clark jumped out to an early 6-0 lead sparked by four points from junior Bruce Saintilus as well as a made jumper from sophomore Reid Neumann before a made layup from Saintilus extended the Cougar advantage to 8-4 with 15:04 to play in the first half.
• Senior Jordan Richard hit a triple off a pass from first-year Quentin Pridgen and a senior Mikey O'Brien layup gave the Cougars a 13-7 edge and a triple from junior Isaiah Taylor extended the advantage to 16-12 lead with 12:56 to play in the half.
• The Lions responded with an 8-2 run as Jacob Armant netted all eight Lion points before a made layup from Saintilus tied the game at 20-20 less than halfway through the half.
• Armant, Trevor Arico, and Cadan Zurek combined to score the next seven points in the game, but Clark answered with four straight points to cut the deficit to three at 27-24 with 4:16 to go before the break.
• Armant hit two more three-pointers and a pair of Arico free throws gave the Lions a nine-point edge at 35-26 before the Cougars ended the half on a 9-2 run sparked by five points from Saintilus as Emerson took a 37-35 lead into the locker room.
• Brandan McNamara hot a three-pointer on the first possession of the second half to extend the lead to five before Saintilus scored the games next five points to tie the game at 40-40.
• The Cougars then went on an 8-2 run as McArdle netted six points and a jumper from Richard gave the scarlet and white a 50-45 lead with 14:51 to play.
• After Arico hit a three-pointer to get back within four before junior Ian Calabrese connected on a triple off a pass from Richard to give the Cougars a 57-50 lead with 11:19 remaining.
• The Lions then went on an 8-4 run led by three points from Arico and Shay Roban before O'Brien and first-year Quentin Pridgen combined for the next four points as Clark held a 65-58 advantage with 8:01 left.
• Neumann then connected on a triple and a Saintilus layup helped the Cougars take 70-62 lead with 6:00 to play before Asher Gardiner hit a free throw to get the Lions within seven at 70-63.
• Taylor pushed the lead to nine at 72-63 with 4:58 to play before both defenses controlled the game as neither team scored over the next three minutes with Arico ending the drought with a made layup to make it a 72-65 contest with 1:33 remaining.
• Taylor pushed the lead back up to nine with 1:06 to play with a jumper that hit every part of the rim and fell to go up 74-65 and after the Lions got as close as seven points, Saintilus, Pridgen, and Richard sealed the game with four free throws as Clark came away with a 78-70 win.

Inside the Box Score

• The Cougars grabbed 39 rebounds, dished out 17 assists, and recorded 11 steals.
• Saintilus led the way with 21 points and added four steals.
• McArdle registered his 12th double-double of the season with 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
• O'Brien added 13 points and eight assists.

What's Next
The Cougars will play in the NEWMAC Championship on Saturday afternoon when they welcome Babson to the Kneller beginning at 1:00 p.m.