Langhorne, PA - The Cairn men's basketball team earned their first win of the season by upsetting the top team in the CSAC, Immaculata, 57-54 on Wednesday evening. Darnell Clowney came down with a rebound after a missed Might Mac shot at the end of the game and eventually made two free throws to give the Highlanders the three-point advantage. 
 
Heading into the game, Immaculata was 5-1 in the conference and had a 7-6 record overall. After previously losing some tight games to good teams, the win proves that the Cairn men have what it takes to take down tough opponents. 
 
"I'm extremely excited, the guys have been working really hard," said head coach Jason O'Connell after the win. "It's great that the guys took care of business at the end of the game and got the win."
 
Cairn stuck to their game plan throughout and didn't allow the Mighty Macs to set up their offense. At first it looked like Immaculata's big man, Mamadou Diatike, would have his way beneath the basket but Jordan Sharpe was able to come in off the bench and play well against him.
 
The Highlanders committed just eight turnovers in the game, compared to 14 for the Mighty Macs. That number matched Cairn's season-low from their game against Lancaster Bible College; a game the Highlanders nearly stole from the Chargers. Cairn was also lights-out from the free throw line shooting 15-17 for the game.
 
Immaculata took the lead by five at two different points in the first half but came right back both times to make good plays and stay in the game. Cairn re-took the lead with under five minutes to play in the first half on two made free-throws by Azariah Parmer. In the first half, Parmer was a perfect 1-1 from three point range and 4-4 at the free-throw line.
 
Cairn's lead grew to five in the first half when Reuben Lacy completed the three-point play with 2:34 on the clock. Clowney kept the lead at five before Immaculata's Matt Simon hit a three to cut the lead to 31-29.
 
The Highlanders kept the lead for the first seven minutes of the second half until Simon hit another three-pointer to give the Mighty Macs a two-point advantage. Simon was causing fits for the Highlanders and eventually made 5-10 from downtown in the evening.
 
Later on the Mighty Macs again took a five point lead after the score was tied but Cairn refused to give up so easy. Omar Askia came in to make a couple free throws and Clowney hit a jumper from outside the key to cut the deficit to one. Minutes later Reuben Lacy hit is only attempted three in the game and tied the game up at 49-49.
 
Lacy then gave the Highlanders the lead back with a layup and Askia followed suit to give Cairn the 53-49 advantage with 3:26 on the clock. Diakite cut the lead to just 55-54 with 47 seconds on the clock but that gave the ball back to Cairn with the lead. The Highlanders took as much time off the clock as they could before getting a shot up but couldn't sink the jumper.
 
The rebound was collected by Immaculata and they rushed down the court and attempted a three-pointer for the lead. Roy Ferrell Jr. missed the shot and Clowney collected the rebound with two seconds on the clock. He was immediately fouled but The Mighty Macs were only up to four team fouls and Cairn had to inbound the ball.
 
"I knew someone would come flying through the lane to get the rebound," said O'Connell about Clowney's rebound. "We want everybody to compete and work hard and it showed in the final seconds tonight."
 
Immaculata ended up fouling until they got into the bonus in the hopes that Cairn would miss the free throws, or at least get the ball one more time. Clowney made both of his free throws on the 1-and-1 and the Mighty Macs got to inbound the ball with 1.6 seconds left. The ensuing pass went to Rodney Duncan near mid-court but it went off his hands and out of bounds; thus securing the win for Cairn.
 
"I love the group of guys that we have," remarked O'Connell after the game. "They never stopped competing and buying into what we are trying to do as a team."
 
The win not only marks the first for the team in the 2014-15 season but also the first for Jason O'Connell's head coaching career. The Highlanders will ride out the win over the weekend and then travel to their next game at Neumann University on Monday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m.