LANGHORNE, PA – Cairn Men's Basketball notched their second-straight conference win with a buzzer-beating three-pointer to defeat Keystone 86-83 on Tuesday night.
After a few quick swings back and forth, Cairn (12-12 / 9-6 UNITED EAST) began to set the tone with senior guard
Ashton West (Newport Beach, CA / Clarks Summit University) finishing a layup while drawing the foul for a three-point play. Back-to-back threes by graduate guard
Corey Baldwin (Henderson, NC / Averett) continued to put the Giants on their heels as classmate
Josiah Hardy (Ashburn, VA / Hampden-Sydney) added a mid-range to extend the lead to nine. Fifth year guard
Isaiah Coleman (Fontana, CA / Clarks Summit University) then got in on the three-point shooting action, nailing a pair to keep Keystone (12-10 / 10-4 UNITED EAST) away. The Giants would get the deficit down to one in the closing minutes as Hardy made another jump shot and West a fastbreak layup to take a 40-35 lead to the break.
With a three-pointer by West and early layups from Baldwin and graduate guard
Jadon Cepeda (West New York, NJ / William Paterson), Keystone took their first lead since the opening minutes on a deep shot. Hardy responded immediately with another midrange on the next possession as Cepeda followed with a layup and pair of free throws later.
As the Giants went running, Baldwin and Coleman evened the scales with another three-pointer each around the five-minute mark until a quick push finished off by a pair of free throws had Keystone solely in the driver's seat with a ten-point buffer. Coleman and West each hit deep shots to cut into the lead with under two minutes to play. With the Highlanders down by six, Cepeda stole the next two possessions away from Keystone, finding West and Baldwin with fastbreak layups. After a timeout and key miss by the Giants around the rim, Hardy did his thing with a pull-up jumper to tie things up at 83-83. Keystone took a timeout with the shot clock turned off, planning to win the game as they controlled the ball. On the drive to the paint, West came up with a steal, getting the ball to Cepeda on the run as he pulled up from three and banked in the game-winner after the horn. As the Mason Activity Center went wild, the Highlanders completed the comeback for a 86-83 win.
Cepeda was the player of the game with eleven points, five rebounds, eight assists, five steals, and most importantly the game-winning shot. Baldwin led the team with 22 points on 3-4 shooting from behind the arc and eleven boards. West was next with 21 points on 3-6 three-point shooting and six rebounds while Hardy had an even 20 points with a pair of blocked shots. Coleman rounded out the only five scorers for Cairn with twelve points and four made threes.
The Highlanders will close out the regular season at Wilson on Saturday where they rematch the Phoenix after a double-overtime win in Langhorne a few weeks ago.
