Clark men’s basketball defeated the Middlebury College Panthers 70 to 66 in a home game on Tuesday Nov. 14. Four Cougars scored double-digit points: Bruce Saintilus (19), Kekoa McArdle (17), Mikey O’Brien (15), and Isaiah Taylor (12).
Big man Kekoa McArdle punched in a double-double with 13 total rebounds during the contest. O’Brien was on fire from deep, connecting on four out of five three point attempts. Saintilus was productive on both ends – adding three steals to his game-leading 19 points. Q. Pridgen and Jordan Richard also put in solid minutes off the bench, during which Pridgen swiped two steals.
After the game I had the privilege of speaking with head coach Tyler Simms on the team’s performance against Middlebury. One positive take away from the contest was the team’s fight, Simms said “I love how hard our guys compete everyday.” Simms went on to say that Middlebury possesses a strong program, so he knew this game would be a battle – but the Cougars were the tougher team overall.
Simms said that the 11 first half offensive rebounds from Middlebury was a con; despite Middlebury’s strong offensive rebounding in the first half, Simms was pleased to see improvement in the second half as Clark only gave up three offensive rebounds.
When asked on Middlebury’s run to open up the second half, Simms had this to say “I knew they were going to come out on fire, and that’s exactly what they did … I thought our guys responded really really well.” After Clark went into halftime with a seven point lead, Middlebury held a four point lead with just 9:14 remaining in the half. The Cougars responded with a three pointer from Mikey O’Brien and layup from Isaiah Taylor to gain back the lead – a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.
Clark’s next contest will be played at Baruch College in New York, N.Y. on Saturday, Nov.18. After a four game road trip, the Cougars will return home on Saturday, Dec. 2 against Westfield State University.
