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CALDWELL, N.J. - Michael Mullane's lay-up with 4.9 seconds remaining allowed the University of Sciences to defeat Caldwell College, 66-63 in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference men's basketball game Saturday afternoon at the George R. Newman Center. The loss snaps the Cougars' five-game winning streak and drops their record to 8-9 overall and 4-5 in the CACC. The Devils improve to 4-9 on the season, including a 2-6 conference mark.

USP broke open a close game in the first half with an 11-2 run that gave the Devils a 29-20 advantage with 4:08 left in the half. The Cougars used three-pointers from junior guard Jean Georges (Vauxhal, NJ/Spotswood) and senior guard Kelvin Reese (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck), and a conventional three-point play from senior guard Mark Kelly (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Twp.), pictured, to tie the game at 29-29. After the Devils scored four straight points, Reese converted a driving lay-up at the buzzer to make the score 33-31 in favor of USP at the half.

The Devils maintained the upper hand in the second half and took its largest lead when a three-pointer by William Kurtz capped a 13-4 run and gave the Devils a 50-40 lead with 12:20 on the clock. The Cougars clawed back into the game with a 15-6 spurt that included five points from sophomore forward Manny Perez (Egg Harbor, NJ/Egg Harbor) and four from senior forward Teren Scudder (Paterson, NJ/Paterson Catholic) that brought Caldwell within one, 56-55 with six minutes left. Perez eventually tied the game at 61-61 with a lay-up at the 2:07 mark, then Kelly gave the Cougars their first lead of the second half, making 1-of-2 from the line.

After being fouled by Collin Harrington with just over a minute to play, Perez missed his first free throw attempt, then made the second to put Caldwell up 63-61. On the Devils' next possession, Eric Cangelosi hit 1-of-2 from the line to cut the deficit to 63-62. After a missed shot by Caldwell, Cangelosi's jumper was short, but Mullane grabbed the rebound under the basket and scored to regain the lead for USP. Following a Cougar turnover and a pair of free throws by Howard Lanier that made the score 66-63 in favor of the Devils, a three-point attempt by sophomore guard Michael Wise (Whitesboro, NJ/Middletownship) fell short as time expired.

Kelly and Perez shared game-high honors with 14 points apiece, while Scudder tallied 11 points and a team-best eight rebounds for the Cougars. Kurtz finished with 13 points for USP, which made 53.3 percent of its shots from the floor compared to 42.6 percent for Caldwell.

The Cougars return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 17, when they host Post University in a CACC contest. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m. in the Newman Center.