Langhorne, PA - Cairn University's men's basketball team got output from a number of players after a decent shooting night but free-throws were the difference maker.
Box Score
The Highlanders and Pacers were nearly deadlocked from the field in open play, with Marywood making two more baskets in general than the Highlanders, 24-22. However, the Highlanders made two more 3-pt attempts than the Pacers. When taking just those offensive stats into consideration, it was only a two point game. So how did Marywood manage a 12 point win? Free-throws. Marywood went 25-of-31 from free-throws, in comparison to Cairn scoring 10 fewer points from the line, 15-of-23.
Three different Cairn players made it into double-figures.
Reuben Lacy and
Aaron Stovall tied for the team lead with 13 points each. Reuben completed his second double-double of the season by grabbing 10 rebounds as well.
Barron Lacy came a point away from also reaching a double-double. Barron had 9 points and 11 rebounds. Both Lacy's also had 3 assists. Playing the point,
Charles Hopkins contributed 10 points and 6 rebounds.
Kyle Bonner and
Alec Filippini combined for 13 points off the bench.
Chase Brunner rounded out the scoring with 6 points, knocking down two 3-pointers.
Cairn held the lead for the entire opening 9 minutes, with the exception of one tie at 4-4. On separate occassions, the hosts held a 6-point advantage over the visiting Pacers. But at the 10:41 mark, Marywood knotted things up at 14-14. The very next basket gave the visitors the lead for good. The Highlanders avoided giving up any huge runs to their opponents, something that has hamstrung them all season, and kept things very tight up until halftime. With 4 minutes remaining in the half, the teams were tied at 24-24 and proceeded to trade baskets all the way down to the final seconds of the half. With 1 second on the scoreboard, Marywood's Ryan Corrigan drained a jumper to give the Pacers a 32-30 halftime lead.
Nine minutes into the second half, and without making any big runs, the Pacers found themselves leading by 12 points. But 7 straight Cairn points made it a 5 point game, 53-48. The following 6 minutes saw Marywood outscore the Highlanders 13-4, opening up their largest lead of the night, 66-52. Cairn fought back again to within 6 points, 69-63 with just under two minutes to play, but Marywood proved too effective at making the most of their free-throw opportunities. Marywood would go on to win 76-64.
Marywood's Kendall Harris had a monster night, finishing with 31 points. When he wasn't scoring, teammate Ryan Corrigan was knocking down 23 points of his own, proving to be an effective one-two punch for the Pacers.
Cairn dominated the boards, holding a 34-20 advatnage in rebounds, but it was Marywood's multiple trips to the line the proved the difference maker in an otherwise even game.
Marywood improves to 3-6 in the conference. Cairn has spiraled to an 0-9 conference record, 1-13 overall.
Look for Cairn to break their skid against Neumann this Saturday. Tip-off is set for 1pm in Aston, PA.
