BALTIMORE, MD – The Cairn University Men's Basketball team squared off with Notre Dame of Maryland on the road Thursday night, dropping their final regular season matchup with the Gators, 80-69.
 
BOX SCORE DETAILS:

• Senior guard Aytor Alberto (Willemstad, Curraçao / Clarks Summit University) led the Highlanders again with 22 points, 13 of which came from the free throw line and 8 rebounds.
• Freshman guard Jake Zawacki (Kenilworth, NJ / David Brearly) recorded a career-high 11 points on 3-4 shooting from three point range.
• Junior guards Christian Rivera (Cayey, Puerto Rico / Central Bucks East) and Jonathan Desir (Feasterville, PA / Neshaminy) each added 10 points, Rivera with 3 assists.
• As a team, the Highlanders shot 38.3% (23-60) from the field while going 7-22 from deep.

HOW IT PLAYED OUT:

• Notre Dame (2-13 / 2-5 United East Skye Division) would get out to a 7-point lead off the tip before Rivera hit from deep to get the Highlander offense flowing with Alberto cutting the lead to two.
• Five points in a row by Zawacki would keep Cairn (10-6 / 5-3 United East Skye Division) within arm's reach as the Gators went on a run to go back up by seven.
• Two triples from Zawacki got the score to 23-22 with the Highlanders trailing by one with 8 minutes to play in the first half.
• The Gators took over again, taking a 38-32 lead to the locker room.
• Out of the break, Notre Dame raised the lead to 10 points, their second largest lead of the night.
• An Alberto free throw would tie the game at 47-47 as Rivera's layup garnered a lead for Cairn, 49-48.
• Cairn held onto the lead for all of five minutes before Notre Dame came back with pace, growing their lead back and taking the game, 80-69.

GAME NOTES:

• The Highlander split the season series with Notre Dame after they defeated the Gators at home 93-75 on back on January 6.
• Cairn now sits tied with Keystone at a 5-3 conference record in fourth place.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE:

• It's a road-heavy schedule for Cairn Men's Basketball through the rest of January as they play four games away from Langhorne before closing the month of January hosting Clarks Summit on January 31.
• Next up is Valley Forge on Saturday, tipping off at 4 p.m.