LANGHORNE, Pa. – The Cairn University men's basketball team won, 91-70 in an NCAA Division III-USCAA crossover matchup with Manor College in their home opener inside the Mason Activity Center on Tuesday evening.
With Cairn University Head Coach
Jason O'Connell absent due to unexpected illness, Assistant Coaches
Tyler Savage and
Seth Brunner filled the role as Co-Head Coaches on the evening, leading the Highlanders to a 21-point victory.
"I was proud of how our guys started the game tonight setting the tone early." remarked O'Connell, observing and analyzing via the live stream from his residence.
"We shared the ball very well and did a good job of making the extra pass playing unselfish basketball. There were a lot of little things defensively that we need to improve on, but overall I was happy with how we competed."
Cairn (1-2) got out to a lightning fast start, jetting out to a 23-6 lead over Manor (1-2) over the first six minutes of the contest. The Highlanders continued to pour on the offense, extending their advantage to 31 by the end of the first half (56-25). Cairn got the lead up to 32 (85-53) after a triple by junior
Noah Mitchell (Leesburg, VA / Toccoa Falls College) with just over five minutes to play, before the Blue Jays mounted a 17-6 run to close out the affair.
Cairn shot a scorching 52.9% (37-70) from the field in the contest, their most efficient field percentage since it shot 54.1% (33-61) against Valley Forge last season, compared to a 34.2% (26-76) mark for the Blue Jays. The Highlanders dished out 29 assists in the contest, the highest amount since they tallied 30 assists against Medgar Evers in 2019. Cairn narrowly edged Manor in the rebounding department (49-46) and scored 50 of their 91 points in the painted area.
Fifth-year
Mizz Nyagwegwe (Norristown, PA / Eastern Mennonite University) led three Highlanders in double figures with a career-high 27 points, highlighted by a seven-for-nine mark from long range.
Nyagwegwe was followed by junior
Derian Bradford (Lansdale, PA / University of Valley Forge) who stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, tied a game-high with 14 rebounds and dished out six assists. Fifth-year
Kameron Clark (Ewing, NJ / Ewing HS) added ten points and 11 rebounds, while fifth-year
Jesse Rivera (Doylestown, PA / Central Bucks East) distributed a career-high 11 assists in the win.
The Highlanders will be back on the hardwood on Thursday, November 17 when they welcome Penn State Brandywine to the 'Horne for another NCAA Division III-USCAA crossover matchup inside the Mason Activity Center at 7 p.m.
