La Plume, Pa. – Cairn University opened the second half of Saturday afternoon's Colonial States Athletic Conference #Play4JaylenAndJP men's basketball game with 15-4 run to overcome a nine-point halftime deficit on their way to a 74-69 at the Gambal Athletic Center. The Highlanders boost their overall record to 8-13 this fall while the Giants drop to 4-17 on the year. The two teams are now tied for seventh place in the CSAC with identical, 4-10 marks in conference play, sitting three games out of the final playoff spot with just four games remaining in the regular season.
Cairn built a 23-18 lead over the first 11 and a half minutes of Saturday's contest before Keystone stormed back with a 15-3 run to claim a 33-26 edge with 4:20 remaining in the first half. The Giants extended their advantage to 11 points, 43-32, on a
ShaShawn Drayton (Monticello, NY/Monticello) with 50 seconds remaining in the stanza and the hosts would hold a 43-34 lead at the break after the Highlanders hit a pair of free throws to close out the scoring in the period.
Deion Monroe (Kingston, NY/Kingston ) netted eight first half points to lead Keystone, who got seven points apiece from
Tyreek Peeples (Philadelphia, PA/Girard College) and
Devin Williams (Monticello, NY/Monticello). Drayton led all players with seven rebounds for the Giants, who shot a solid, 59.3 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play while going 2-5 from three-point range and 9-11 from the free throw line.
Gerroid Doughty netted eight points while JD Zamroz scored six points in the first half to pace Cairn, who connected on 41.9 percent of their field goal attempts including a 6-13 clip from long range and a 2-5 showing at the charity stripe.
Trailing by nine points, Cairn opened the second half with a 15-4 burst to claim a 58-47 lead with 12:39 remaining in regulation. Keystone used a 7-2 spurt to draw to within six points at the 6:21 mark before the Highlanders were able to push their lead back to eight points with just under five minutes left on the clock. Williams scored on back-to-back layups to narrow the host's deficit to 69-65 with two and half minutes remaining, but the Highlanders countered with a big three-pointer and would hold on for the five-point victory.
Doughty finished with a game-high 21 points for Cairn, who got 13 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists from Julian Collazo. Zamroz also contributed 13 points for the Highlanders, who finished the contest hitting on 43.9 percent of their field goal attempts including a 56.5 percent showing from three-point land as the visitors went a blistering, 7-10 from downtown in the second half. Cairn, who was plus-six (15-21) in the turnover category, also shot 64.7 percent from the line.
Williams finished with a team-high 17 points to go along with eight rebounds and two steals for Keystone while Monroe added 11 points and a pair of takeaways. Peeples chipped in with nine points while
Terrence Bowman (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) led the squad with four assists.
DeAndre Monroe (Raleigh, NC/Knightdale) dished out a trio of helpers while Drayton tied for a game-high with nine rebounds as the Giants owned a 42-29 advantage on the glass.
Keystone shot 43.9 percent from the field on the afternoon while going 22.2 percent from beyond the arc and 75 percent from the stripe.
The Giants will travel to Immaculata University for a must-win, CSAC game starting at 8:00 p.m. in Immaculata, Pennsylvania.
