La Plume, Pa. – Keystone College remained undefeated in Colonial States Athletic Conference men's basketball action this season with a thrilling, 77-76 victory over Cairn University on Wednesday afternoon in the Gambal Athletic Center.  The Giants level their overall record at 5-5 while moving to 4-0 in conference play while the Highlanders slip to 4-5 on the season and 1-3 in the CSAC.    
 
Keystone built a 10-4 lead over the first five minutes of Wednesday's contest before Cairn countered with a 13-2 run to claim a 17-12 advantage at the 12:09 mark of the first half.  The Giants pulled to within one point midway through the period, but the Highlanders scored 13 of the game's next 16 points to take a 30-19 advantage at with 8:04 left on the clock.
 
The hosts battled back to within six points before an 8-0 spurt by Cairn gave the visitors their largest lead of the half at 14 points, 38-24, with five and a half minute remaining.  Keystone stormed back with a 12-2 surge of its own to make it a four-point contest.  The Highlanders claimed a 43-36 lead with a trio of free throws before a three-pointer by Jaylen Nuckles (Corning, N.Y./Corning) cut the Giants' deficit to four points at halftime.
 
Keystone opened the second half strong, outscoring Cairn 14-2 over the first 5:17 of the period to claim a 53-45 lead, paced by 11 points from Austin Smith (Titusville, Fla./Florida Air Academy), three of which came on three-pointers.  The Giants pushed their lead to as many as 10 points before the Highlanders made it a 67-63 game with 8:38 left in regulation.
 
The hosts reeled off the game's next seven points to take a 10-point advantage with just under seven minutes left on a Jeremy Jordan (Portsmouth, Va./I.C. Norcom) layup, but Cairn battled back and used a late 7-0 run to pull to within a single point at 77-76 with 59 seconds showing on the clock.  Neither team was able to score in the final minute, with the Highlanders seeing a pair of shots at the win stay out as time expired.
 
Smith finished with a game-high 17 points to pace Keystone's offense while Mark Gilliam (Philadelphia, Pa./High School of the Future) totaled 15 points to go along with four assists and two steals.  John Kirkpatrick (Philadelphia, Pa./Northeast) added 11 points for the Giants, who shot 44.9 percent from the field in the game including a 22.9 percent effort from three-point range while going 58.3 percent from the free throw line.
 
Bryan Williams (Los Angeles, Calif./Rialto) had a team-high seven rebounds for the hosts, who were plus-eight (12-20) in the turnover department.
 
Richard Rosas led five Cairn players in double-figures with 13 points while Jordan Koczman added a double-double on 12 points and 10 rebounds.  Malachi Hall added 12 points and a game-high nine assists while Donovan McCrae and Josh Decker netted 10 points apiece.
 
The Highlanders, who held a 44-34 advantage in rebounding for the game, converted 46.9 percent of their attempts from the floor in the loss while shooting 45 percent from long range and 50 percent from the line.
 
Keystone will visit Cabrini University on Saturday afternoon in a CSAC contest starting at 3:00 p.m. in Radnor, Pennsylvania.