Dec. 6, 2008
WORCESTER, Mass. - Junior Mark Alexander (Providence, R.I.) had a game-high 22 points and made four steals to lead Clark University to a 66-60 non-conference victory over Endicott College at the Kneller Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon. Clark raises its record to 4-3 overall, while Endicott (4-4) suffered its second straight loss.
Alexander, who was perfect at the line (4-4), shot 8-for-12 from the field. He was joined in double figures by teammates Peter Normandin (Westminster, Mass.) with 15 points and freshman Brian Vayda (Sturbridge, Mass.) with 14 points and six rebounds. Junior Reed Powell (Worcester, Mass.) had a team-best seven rebounds.
The Cougars raced out to a 39-23 halftime lead. The hosts drained three trey's in the first 6:43 of the period en route to a 12-point advantage (21-9) capped by Vayda's two-point pop at 11:48 of the half. The visitors trimmed the deficit to five (20-25) on an 11-2 run, which featured six points from Kevin McGuire (New City, N.Y.). However, the Cougars got hot, scoring 14 of the final 17 points in the half for the 16-point advantage.
Normandin and Alexander had 13 points apiece in the period.
After Alexander hit a three-pointer for a 19-point margin (42-23) to open the second half, Clark slowly saw its lead vanquish. The Gulls tied the score when Tim Boyatsis (Dover, N.H.) converted a pair of free throws with 3:18 to play. But Clark answered down the stretch with four trips to the charity stripe, hitting all eight of its free throw attempts for a 66-58 cushion. Junior Slader Lyell (Portsmouth, R.I.) made all four of his attempts.
Junior Graham Whitelaw (Kennebunk, Maine), who paced Endicott with 16 points and five boards, stroked a jumper in the lane that counted as time expired on the clock for the 66-60 score.
McGuire was the other double-figure scorer with 12 points.
Clark shot 43.1 percent from the field, while Endicott hit at a 42 percent clip. The Cougars, who had a 34-28 advantage on the boards, also visited the line more times (16-for-21) than the Gulls (9-for-12).
Both teams are back in action on Tuesday. Clark will play at Brandeis University (7 p.m.), while Endicott will travel to Wesleyan University for an 8:00 p.m. tip.
