CU Men’s Basketball Downs UPJ; Women Lose to Lady Cats


CLARION, Pa. – Making a return to their home court for the first time in three games, the Clarion men’s basketball team delivered a 71-66 victory over visiting Pitt-Johnstown, Saturday afternoon.

(Photo courtesy of Clarion University Athletics)

The Mountain Cats jumped out to an early eight-point lead at 30-22 but the Golden Eagles used some heads up shooting and stellar offense to keep it close trailing 41-32 heading into the halftime break. Elijah Cottrill paced the Clarion offense in the first half, scoring 11 of his game-high 25 points on 5 of 10 shooting.

Clarion shot 40 percent from the floor in the first half, getting up and down the floor quickly, helping them withstand the hot shooting hand of UPJ’s Caiden Landis. Landis was 7 of 9 shooting scorching the net for 14 of his team-high 18 points in the first half.

A 12-0 run midway through the second half making it 52-50, helped Clarion ultimately take over the game and shift the momentum.

The Mountain Cats would build their lead to seven at the 6:49 mark of the second half, but a good layup by Brandon Williams and a three-pointer from Elijah Cottrill cut the lead to just two points heading into the media timeout.

The Golden Eagles would take the lead for good at the 1:28 mark in the second half off of a deep three from sophomore guard Khari Williams and never looked back building their lead to the final deficit five.

For the game, Clarion shot 43.3 percent from the floor, converting 26 of 60 attempts, including 14 of 22 from the free throw line.

Cottrill led the Golden Eagles with 25 points, while Brandon Williams finished the night with 12 points to go along with four rebounds and 2 assists.

Khari Williams finished the night with 10 points and three boards, while Lawrence Lemon added nine points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Clarion will hit the road for a non-conference match-up against Salem University, February 13th set to start at 7 p.m., before returning home to take on PSAC West Rival Slippery Rock at 3 p.m. on February 16th.

WOMEN FALL BY EIGHT TO UPJ

CLARION, Pa. – Clarion regained its footing after a rocky first quarter but was unable to finish off a comeback effort, falling 63-51 to Pitt-Johnstown at the Student Recreation Center on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Eagles (8-15, 2-14 PSAC) will return to action a week from today when they host Slippery Rock.

The Mountain Cats opened up a big lead in the first quarter but the Golden Eagles went basket-for-basket with them the rest of the way, cutting the lead to 10 points in the fourth quarter but getting no closer. Clarion won the rebounding battle 40-37 and outscored Pitt-Johnstown off turnovers, but a difficult day shooting from three-point range put the result out of reach.

Kadijah Dickson scored a team-high 16 points while also pulling down six rebounds and dishing out three assists, and Emily Hegedus added another double-digit scoring day to her ledger with 11 points. Yasmin Lewis tied for the game-high with 11 rebounds in 26 minutes of action.

The Mountain Cats came out of the gates shooting well, taking a 27-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Golden Eagles chipped away at that advantage in the second, with Yndiah Bobo scoring with 42 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 12 points. Taylor Moltz drilled a three-pointer on a kickout by Dickson with 30 seconds left, making it 38-29, but Alli McGrath scored with four seconds left to make it 41-29 at the break.

Pitt-Johnstown’s lead stayed steady for most of the rest of the game, as Clarion pulled to as close as 10 points down but never got it back to single digits. Moltz made a midrange jumper to cut it to 52-42 with 6:18 remaining, but the Mountain Cats pushed the lead back to 15 points with 1:44 left in regulation.


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