The Lions Drop Their First Game Of The Season In Overtime

PITTSFORD, NY – Brian Vayda scored 10 of his 26 points in overtime to lead Clark (Mass.) over Behrend 83-73 at the Woodcliff Invitational hosted by St. John Fisher, Wednesday.

Vayda was assisted by Mitch Renshaw and Travis Curley. The two Cougars (5-6), scored 18 and 15 points, respectively and pulled down a combined 11 boards.

The Lions (7-1) were led by Chris Saltzman who poured in a career-high 35 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Russ Conley also contributed with 19 points and six boards.

Clark took a 22-9 lead midway through the first half at the 10:34 mark, making it their largest lead of the night. The Lions were able to score a few quick buckets to close the gap. A couple layups by Saltzman and two long-range triples by Nick Thorsen and Adam Palcic put the men down, 20-27 but it just wasn't enough to keep up with Vayda's 11 first-half points. Behrend entered halftime trailing, 25-32.

The Lions came to life in the second half netting five of their first seven shots to tie the game at 36-all. During the stretch Conley, Saltzman and Palcic were all successful from behind-the-arc. Clark would retaliate posting eight straight points to give the Cougars a nice cushion with 13:06 left in regulation, 38-47. Down nine, Saltzman took over posting 17 of his 20 second-half points including the Behrend's last two buckets in the final seconds to send the game into overtime, 64-64.

The Cougars outscored the Lions 19-9 in overtime to give Behrend its first loss of the season. Clark shot a remarkable 92.9 percent from the charity stripe  and 75.0 percent from the field in the final five minutes of play.

The Lions will return to action taking on the winner of the Farmingdale St./St. John Fisher game at 1 p.m. Thursday.