Clarks Summit, Pa. – Keystone College earned its first win in Colonial States Athletic Conference play this season by opening 2017 with a 92-77 victory at Clarks Summit University   in men's basketball action on Tuesday evening.  The Giants lift their record to 4-6 overall and 1-3 in conference play while the Defenders slide to 1-10 overall and 0-4 in the CSAC.     
 
Keystone jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the opening three minutes of Tuesday night's contest before Clarks Summit leveled the score at 15-15 at the 15:12 mark.  The two teams traded the lead four times over the next few minutes before the Defenders used a 16-4 run to claim a 36-25 lead with 9:45 left in the first half.
 
Keystone chipped away at the Clarks Summit lead the rest of the half and went into halftime trailing by just a point, 49-48, after Perry Belcher (Orlando, Fla./Colonial) converted a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the period.

John McCloskey led all scorers in the first half with 13 points for Clarks Summit while Dwayne Felder added nine points for the Defenders, who went 42.1 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of play.  The hosts also went 6-11 from three-point land and 11-15 from the free throw line in the frame.
 
John Kirkpatrick (Philadelphia, Pa./Northeast) paced Keystone with 12 points in the first half while ShaShawn Drayton (Monticello, N.Y./Monticello) tallied eight points and six rebounds for the Giants, who connected on 46.2 percent of their field goal attempts in the stanza while going 2-8 from long range and 10-17 from the stripe.
 
Keystone came out hot in the second half, outscoring Clarks Summit 17-5 over the opening 7:42 of the frame to hold a 65-54 lead with 12:18 left in regulation.  The Giants extended their lead to 70-56 with just over 11 minutes showing on the clock before the Defenders pulled to within eight points at 74-66 with 6:37 remaining.
 
Keystone countered with the next six points of restore its 14-point cushion before Clarks Summit was able to pull back to within nine points at 81-72 with just over two and a half minutes remaining.  The Giants sealed their first conference win of the season though by scoring 13 of the game's final 16 points.   
 
Kirkpatrick led all players with a season-high 20 points for the Giants while Drayton added 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds.  Devin Stricklin (Midland, Tex./Pro Vision Prep) had 14 points and a game-high three steals while Belcher and Mark Gilliam (Philadelphia, Pa./High School of the Future) chipped in with 10 points apiece. 
 
Belcher, Kirkpatrick, and Bryan Williams (Los Angeles, Calif./Rialto) pulled down eight rebounds apiece for Keystone, who doubled up Clarks Summit on the glass, 48-24.  Deion Monroe (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston ) dished out a team-leading three assists for the Giants, who shot 45.2 percent from the field for the game while going 25 percent from downtown and 63.2 percent from the line.
 
Kyron Jones paced Clarks Summit with 16 points while McCloskey (15), Noah Lindsey (11), and Antwan Bradley (10) also reached double-figures for the Defenders, who connected on 37.9 percent of their field goal efforts on the evening while going 38.1 percent from three-point range and 63 percent from the stripe in the loss.
 
Keystone will host Marywood University on Thursday night in a CSAC contest starting at 6:00 p.m. in the Gambal Athletic Center in La Plume.