LANGHORNE, Pa. – The Cairn University men's basketball team won, 80-66, at home against non-conference adversary Penn State Berks inside the Mason Activity Center on Monday evening. Monday's victory marks Cairn's third-straight win at home, tying the most consecutive wins at home to start a season since the 2015-16 season.
"Tonight was a hard fought game and it was good to see our guys close it out at the end." remarked Head Coach
Jason O'Connell.
"I thought we defended really well holding them to 32% (27-70) from the field and our team did a good job being active, helping the helper when we were flying out to their shooters. Penn State Berks has been turning teams over at a high rate, so I wish we would have taken care of the ball better but that's something we can continue to work on."
Cairn (3-2) came out smoking on offense in the first half, jetting out to a 24-point lead (36-12) over Penn State Berks (1-4) over the first 14 minutes of play. Berks trimmed the deficit to 10 (46-36) with 90 seconds to play in the frame, before the Highlanders closed the first half on a 7-0 run to take a 53-46 lead into intermission.
The Highlanders maintained their double digit lead for much of the second half, until Berks got the lead within eight (64-56) off a three-ball with 6:49 to play. The Nittany Lions trimmed the lead to just five (66-61) with 5:41 remaining, but the Highlanders finished the contest on a 14-5 run to put away Berks, and improved to 3-0 at home on the season.
Cairn shot 48% (24-50) from the field in the contest, including a 51.8% (14-27) mark from the field in the first half, and held Berks to just a 32.9% (23-70) field goal percentage in the contest. Cairn had its best showing from the free throw line this season, posting a 90% (27-30) mark from the charity stripe, while also topping the Nittany Lions in the painted area (32-18).
Cairn was led offensively by fifth-year
Jesse Rivera (Doylestown, PA / Central Bucks East), who registered his first career double-double with 21 points and 10 assists, both game-highs. Rivera was a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe in the contest. Junior
Derian Bradford (Lansdale, PA / University of Valley Forge) added 15 points, while fifth-year
Dashaun Cain (Wilmington, DE / Red Lion Christian Academy) posted his first double-double of the campaign, tallying 10 points and grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds.
The Highlanders will be back on the floor on Monday, November 28 when they travel to New York to take on Pratt Institute in Brooklyn at 7 p.m.
