Scranton, PA - On Saturday afternoon the Cairn men's basketball team fell to the Marywood Pacers 48-43, in the lowest scoring game that a Cairn men's basketball team has played in the 2000s. Both teams struggled offensively throughout the afternoon with Marywood shooting 35.3% and the Highlanders sporting a 27.5% mark from the field. Gerroid Doughty II led the effort for the Highlanders with 16 points on the afternoon.
 
The Pacers held the Highlanders to just three points in the game's opening 11 minutes. Luckily the damage was not nearly as bad as it could have been, as Cairn's defense allowed just nine points to Marywood over that same stretch.
 
With Cairn trailing 9-3, Chris Uhrish made his second layup of the game to close the gap to four points at 9-5. Both offenses remained stagnant until the final 2:14 of the half. In a two-point game the offenses finally found a way to put the ball in the hole. Marywood and Cairn combined for 13 points in the final two-plus minutes while only scoring a total of 20 point in the first 17:46.
 
At the break the Pacers held a slight 18-15 lead in the low scoring contest.
 
After the half, the Pacers connected on a layup to go up five, but Zachary Jackson connected on a pair of free throws and JD Zamroz hit a three on the next possession to tie the game at 20-20 less than three minutes into the half.
 
Midway through the half with the Highlanders trailing by four at 28-24, Gerroid Doughty II championed a 13-2 run that spanned 2:40. Doughty poured in 10 points on the run and assisted on the only other bucket during the span, a three from Zachary Dolton.
 
Doughty hit a jumper with 7:10 remaining in regulation for the final bucket of the run. That jumper gave Cairn a 37-30 lead. After a minute of scoreless basketball, the Pacers used a quick 8-0 run to take a 38-37 lead. Doughty then knocked down a three for the Highlanders but the Pacers responded with another 8-0 run to take the lead to 46-40.
 
The momentum really turned when the Highlanders were handed an offensive foul and then technical early on in the run. Marywood made the free throws and then scored on the ensuing possession to put them up two.
 
Zachary Dolton ended the run for Marywood with a seal and a layup to make it a four-point game. Chris Uhrich later made a free throw with 1:23 remaining in regulation to cut the Pacers' lead down to three, but the Highlanders would not score another point. A jumper by Tip Swartz for Marywood ended the scoring and the final two attempts for Cairn were off the mark and the Pacers held on for the 48-43 victory.
 
Gerroid Doughty II was the lone scorer in the game with double-digit points, he went for 16 – 10 more than any other Highlander on the afternoon.
 
With 91 points between the Highlanders and Pacers, a quick look at the record books shows that it was the lowest scoring game the Highlanders have played in since, at least, the turn of the century. With 15 points in the first-half, the Highlanders turned in their fewest points in a half since Dec. 29, 2012 when they scored 14 points in the second-half against Lycoming.
 
The Highlanders will next take the floor on Monday when they host the Medgar Evers Cougars at 3:00 p.m.