WORCESTER Mass.  – The Clark University men's basketball team (8-6, 3-2 NEWMAC) welcomed Coast Guard (4-9, 0-5 NEWMAC) to the Kneller Gymnasium in an early week NEWMAC clash and topped the Bears 83-75 sparked by a career-high 33 points from first-year Aliaun Iscandari on Tuesday night.

How it Happened

• The Cougars and Bears played to an early 10-10 tie as Iscandari and sophomore Boluwasefe John each netted five points before a layup from senior Reid Neumann gave Clark a 12-10 advantage with 14:05 to go in the first half.
• Junior Malik Matanmi and Iscandari combined for the contest's next four points before Coast Guard rattled off five unanswered and a dunk from John off a feed from junior Quentin Pridgen with 9:52 to go gave the Cougars a 19-15 edge.
• After two points from Coast Guard, Clark rattled off 14 straight points sparked by five points from Iscandari, four from John, three from Neumann, and two from first-year Trace Clark to give the Cougars a 33-17 lead.
• The Bears rallied back to one before the half despite John hit three free throws and five more points from Iscandari as the scarlet and white took a 41-40 advantage going into the break.
• Sophomore Kyle Squires scored Clark's first five points of the second half and five unanswered from Iscandari helped give the Cougars a 51-48 lead with 15:51 to play.
• After the Bears pulled within one, Neumann, Pridgen, and Iscandari combined to hit four unanswered threes as Clark pushed their advantage to 63-50 with 12:18 to go.
• Squires, Iscandari, and Neumann combined for the Cougars next seven points to keep their lead in double-digits at 12 and after five straight Coast Guard points, John made a layup off a feed from Squires with 5:29 remaining to push the lead back to 72-63.
• Coast Guard cut the deficit to five off a made jumper from Elijah Parent before Iscandari buried a triple and junior Malik Matanmi made a layup to give Clark a 77-67 advantage with 2:10 to play.
• Pridgen connected on six free throws down the stretch as the scarlet and white registered an 83-75 home NEWMAC victory.

Inside the Box Score

• Clark made 28 shots, grabbed 38 rebounds, dished out 19 assists, and forced 24 turnovers.
• Iscandari's 33 points were the most from a Cougar since Isaiah Taylor '25 recorded 33 in 2023 against Emerson.
• Iscandari also tied a season-high with eight steals and dished out six assists.
• John registered 16 points on 6-7 shooting and pulled down five rebounds.
• Neumann added 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
• Pridgen also reached double-figures with 10 points and dished out four assists.
• Clark tallied four steals and five assists.
• Matamni pulled down seven rebounds and added four points.

What's Next
The scarlet and white will be back in action on Thursday night when they travel to Emerson for a road contest beginning at 7:00 p.m.