WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Golden Eagle men’s basketball team outplayed their opponent in the second half, but Clarion was unable to erase a significant early deficit in falling 90-70 to West Chester at Hollinger Field House on Saturday afternoon.
Clarion closed the deficit against the Golden Rams with a strong effort in the second half, outscoring the Golden Rams 47-45 and shooting nearly 48 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes. That advantage came in part because of a strong effort from the bench, with Clarion outscoring West Chester 26-19 in points from the reserves in the game.
Despite this effort, the Golden Eagles were not able to gain much ground against the Golden Rams, getting only as close as 16 points in the second half. Elijah Allen put West Chester up 68-47 with a three-pointer at the 9:08 mark of the half but Clarion chipped away bit by bit from that point, including four consecutive free throw makes from Gavin Cote and Cam Kearney. The latter finished off with a one-and-one at the 6:21 mark, scoring through contact from Anthony Purnell Jr. and making the subsequent free throw to make it 70-54. Gote sank a three-pointer with 3:27 to go to cut it down to 82-63, but West Chester finished off the comfortable win by essentially trading baskets down the stretch.
Kearney scored a team-high 19 points, going 5-of-12 from the field but also notching a 9-of-11 day from the free throw line. Cote came off the bench for 13 points while Jaylen Shippen contributed eight bench points, with the latter’s total coming in just six minutes of play. Justice Easter scored just three points but kicked in four blocked shots, three assists, two rebounds, and a steal.
Clarion actually briefly held the lead early in the game, with Jayson Harris scoring at the 17:17 mark to put his side ahead 4-3 after a pass from Easter. After four minutes it was still just a two-point game, but the Golden Rams began to pull away, embarking on a 20-2 run that put them in firm control of things for the remainder. Harris cut the lead down to 26-13 with a make that came off a pass from Steve Kelly, but the lead did not dip below 20 points the rest of the half as West Chester took a 45-23 lead into the break.
The Golden Eagles will be back in action on Wednesday when they host Lock Haven at Tippin Gym.
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