Immaculata, PA – the Cairn men's basketball team dropped a close 75-74 decision against the Immaculata Mighty Macs on Thursday night. The Highlanders and Mighty Macs played a back-and-forth first-half before the home team pulled away by as many as 16 points late in the second-half. The Highlanders came storming back with a 21-3 run that spanned 6:05 and ended with Cairn holding a 74-72 lead with 38 seconds on the clock.
 
Immaculata made an and-one layup with 22 seconds left to take the lead back. Cairn had multiple chances in the final 15 seconds but the Mighty Macs blocked Cairn's final three shots and the Highlanders' hopes for a comeback fell just short.
 
The Highlanders had a balanced scoring effort in the affair, with four players in double-figures led by Julian Collazo with 20 points, but Immaculata countered with the duo of Eric Pittman Jr. (27 points)and Mike Piekarski (17) that combined for 44 total points on the night.
 
As noted, the game opened with pretty level pegging between the two sides. After the Highlanders and Mighty Macs traded buckets to even the score at 7-7 in the early going, both teams were held scoreless for over four minutes. Immaculata broke the scoreless stretch with a three with less than 12 minutes remaining in the half.
 
After the Mighty Macs' three the two teams traded three's with JD Zamroz and Gerroid Doughty II nailing deep threes from either wing. A few minutes later with the game even at 19-19, Immaculata hit back to back threes to take a six-point edge with under eight minutes remaining in the half.
 
Cairn clawed their way back and with two minutes on the clock, Doughty nailed a three to level the score at 29-29 before the Mighty Macs held a slight 35-34 lead at the half.
 
That Immaculata lead quickly grew to a 10-point lead five minutes into the second-half before ballooning to as many 16 points with 6:43 remaining in the game. Holding a 69-53 lead with less than seven minutes remaining in the half, it looked as if Immaculata was going to cruise to an easy victory. The Highlanders had other ideas.
 
While their record might not show it nine games into the year, the Highlanders are a gritty team that does not roll over. Over the next six minutes the Highlanders held the Mighty Macs without a field goal and took scoring contributions from six different players, including six points from Collazo and five from Jeremiah Harris, to take the lead with under a minute to play.
 
Included in the 21-3 run were clutch threes from Harris, Zachary Jackson, and Zachary Dolton, the last of which from Dolton with 38 seconds remaining gave Cairn their first lead in 24 minutes.
 
After a timeout immediately following Dolton's three, the Mighty Macs abruptly ended their six-minute stretch without a field goal as Roy Ferrell Jr. took the ball right to the rack and was fouled. He finished the three-point play and Cairn's final three attempts were turned away in the final seconds to give Immaculata the victory.
 
The Highlanders have now played six games with the margin of being less than six-points. Cairn is 1-5 in those contests.
 
The Highlanders will next take the court on Saturday when the undefeated and No. 20-ranked Neumann Knights travel to Langhorne. Game time is slated for 3:00 p.m.