CLARION, Pa. – Seton Hill hit 11 of 16 free throws in overtime to get an 81-77 win over Clarion in PSAC West action Monday night at Tippin Gym.
Cameron Grumley forced overtime when he scored with 21 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 65.
Seton Hill had a chance late in regulation to win, but BJ Andrews came away with a game-saving steal with two seconds to play.
But in overtime, Trevor Lecuona’s 3-pointer and steal and layin gave SHU the early 71-67 lead. Clarion hit a three and two free throws to take a one-point lead before Brandon Alston’s two free throws gave SHU a 73-72 lead with 3:02 to play. Four more free throws extended the SHU lead to 77-72 with 2:16 to go. Clarion got to within two points twice down the stretch but the Griffins closed out the game at the free throw line.
SHU led 35-34 at halftime and the Griffins scored the first five points of the second half to take a 40-34 lead early in the half. Milenko Predic’s 3-pointer gave SHU their largest lead of the game at eleven, 52-41, with 11:30 left in the half. SHU was able to build upon their lead and held a 59-45 lead with 5:41 to go in the half. Two free throws from Fernando Salsamendi pushed the lead to 61-48 with 4:21 to play. Lecuona hit one of two free throws with 2:09 remaining to give SHU a 65-57 advantage. Clarion scored the final eight points of the half thanks to 3-pointers from Powell and Grumley and Grumley’s game-tying layup to send the game to overtime.
Predic and Salsamendi led the Griffins with 13 points each. Nathan Davis also reached double figures with 10 points. Tyler Bowling and Lecuona each added 9 points and Noah Davis, Spencer Casson and Brandon Alston each reached 8 points.
Grumley paced the Golden Eagles on offense, posting a team-high 18 points on the evening. Grumley also added six assists and nine rebounds on the night, a team-high as well. Powell recorded a team-high ten assists as well as 15 points.
Clarion is back in action at 8 p.m. at Slippery Rock.
WOMEN DROP SECOND STRAIGHT
CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion women’s basketball team ran into a hot-shooting Seton Hill squad on Monday night, falling by a score of 92-75 to the Griffins at Tippin Gymnasium.
The Golden Eagles (9-6, 6-3 PSAC) have now dropped two straight contests, and will be back in action on Wednesday against Slippery Rock.
Tyra Polite scored a team-high 21 points, and was followed closely by Jordan Bekelja (17) and Amesha Harden-Pullium (16). Harden-Pullium also tacked on three assists and two steals. Polite’s night was her sixth game of the season with 20+ points and her fourth straight overall. She is averaging 24.5 points per game in her last four games. Delrika Jones-Carey finished with a team-high six rebounds. Jen Straw came off the bench for six points and five rebounds, while Taylor Moltz had nine points and three steals.
The Griffins were on fire in the first half of action, shooting 75.0 percent from the field. Though the Golden Eagles played well themselves on offense, shooting 43.8 percent from the floor in that same timespan, they were unable to quite keep up. Clarion outscored Seton Hill 27-22 in the third quarter and pulled relatively close midway through the fourth, but could not put together enough stops to get over the hump.
After trailing 53-33 at the halftime break, the Golden Eagles rallied back with a strong effort in the third quarter. Polite pulled Clarion within 20 points with a make in the paint at the 1:53 mark of the period, and Moltz added a pair of free throws to make it just 71-55. Harden-Pullium also toed the charity strip down the stretch and tacked on two more tosses to make it a 75-60 game with 10 minutes to play.
It seemed Clarion might pull to within single digits midway through the fourth quarter thanks to a 6-0 run that was sparked by a three-pointer from Bekelja and was punctuated by a transition bucket from Polite, making it 81-68 with 5:27 left to play. Seton Hill gathered themselves, though, and built the lead back to 19 points on a layup by Lindsey Mifsud with 2:33 left to play. Harden-Pullium scored a bucket with 11 seconds remaining to set the final deficit at 92-75.
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