WORCESTER, Mass. – The Clark University men's basketball team (15-9, 11-4 NEWMAC) completed the season sweep of MIT (9-16, 3-13 NEWMAC) with an 85-69 victory over the Engineers on Wednesday night from the Rockwell Cage.
How it Happened
- The Cougars jumped out to an early 7-4 lead sparked by four points from senior Kekoa McArdle and a triple from graduate student Jordan Richard before MIT scored eight unanswered to take a 12-7 advantage.
- First-year Boluwasefe John and senior Ian Calabrese combined for Clark's next five before sophomore Quentin Pridgen converted an and-one layup to give the scarlet and white a 15-14 edge with 10:04 remaining in the first half.
- Senior Isaiah Taylor, McArdle, and senior Bruce Saintilus scored the Cougars next nine points to help push the lead to 24-18 before a made dunk from John pushed the Clark advantage to 26-18.
- Taylor pushed the edge to 10 before the Cougars went on an 8-4 run as John, Pridgen, and Saintilus each scored to help the scarlet and white take their largest lead at 36-22 with 3:35 to go in the first half.
- McArdle scored Clark's final points before the half as MIT pulled to within 10 at 38-28.
- Saintilus, Taylor, and Richard combined for the Cougars first seven points of the second half as Clark extended their lead to 45-30 with 17:27 remaining.
- Saintulus added Clark's next four points and six more points from Saintilus in the middle of the second half gave the scarlet and white their largest lead at 56-37.
- Taylor and Saintilus each buried three-pointers and a layup from John with 8:53 to play helped the Cougars take a 67-46 advantage.
- Saintilus and John combined for Clark's next eight points before layups from first-year Nathan Charlot and John pushed the Cougars edge to 79-57 with 5:09 remaining.
- Calabrese scored five of the Cougars final six points down the stretch as the scarlet and white came away with an 85-69 victory.
Inside the Box Score
- Clark made 30 shots, grabbed 44 rebounds, dished out 11 assists, and forced 20 turnovers.
- Saintilus led the Cougars with 23 points on 8-14 shooting and connected on four three-pointers.
- John netted a career-high 17 points, pulled down eight rebounds, blocked three shots, and tallied three steals.
- McArdle tallied his eighth double-double of the year with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
What's Next
Clark will close out the regular season on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. when they welcome Springfield to the Kneller for a NEWMAC contest in their senior day game.