Men's Basketball Clinches Spot in WHAC Tourney With Victory Over Saints

(Lansing, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar men's basketball team joined their counterparts on the women's basketball team by earning a berth in the WHAC Tournament with a 71-66 victory over the visiting Siena Heights Saints Tuesday evening in Lansing.

Jaylen Cole-Williams started the game on fire, hitting three three-pointers in the first five minutes of the game to help the Cougars open a 15-6 lead.  The Saints would then go on a 10-2 run to cut the Cougar lead to one point with 11:09 to play in the half.  An AJ Hess layup and and-one conversion helped give the Cougars some cushion, and after being fouled, a pair of Hess free throws gave the Cougars a 22-16 lead.  After Jacob Mueller hit a jumper, the lead was at seven points before Siena Heights would close the half on a run, and the two teams would go into the half with Cleary leading 29-28.

Cleary started the second half strong, with a Chris Williams and a Tyree Jones layup to expand Cleary's lead to five points.  The Saints would answer right back to tie the game, and did take a 37-38 lead.  With Cleary trailing by two, Bennie Crenshaw started to get hot in the second half, when he hit a jumper, got fouled, and made the ensuing free throw to give the Cougars a one point lead.  Tyree Jones helped the lead grow to four when he knocked down a three.  Siena Heights would go on another run, and took the lead with six minutes remaining in the game.  A Bennie Crenshaw Jr. layup gave the Cougars a 56-55 lead, and after a stop, a Tyree Jones layup made it a three point game.  Cleary would get another stop, and Jacob Mueller hit a jumper from the high post to give the Cougars a five point lead with 3:22 to play in the game.  Siena Heights would cut the Cougar lead to three with 2:12 to play.  On Cleary's next possession, and with the shot clock winding down, Bennie Crenshaw Jr. hit a contested three from way behind the arc to give Cleary a six point lead.  Siena Heights was able to cut the deficit to four points, and was forced to foul to send the Cougars to the free throw line and try to extend the game.  Jacob Mueller and Bennie Crenshaw Jr. would make their free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.

Tyree Jones had a team high 21 points and 14 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.  Jacob Mueller added 18 points and 4 rebounds.  Bennie Crenshaw would also have a double-double, with 12 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals.

The win gives Cleary an 8-17 record overall, and are now 7-12 in the WHAC.  The win also secures a top-10 finish in the conference with one game to play, and secures the Cougars a berth in next week's WHAC tournament, as only one team can catch the Cougars' conference win total.  Cleary will play to determine their playoff seed on Saturday, when they travel to take on the Warriors of Rochester Christian.  The game is slated to begin at 3:00 PM.