Feb. 9, 2008

Box Score

CLARION - Ron Banks scored 22 points to lead California to a 73-63 win over Clarion in PSAC-West men's basketball action Saturday night at Clarion's Tippin Gym.

The Golden Eagles, who got 12 points from Lamar Richburg and 10 apiece from Mike Sherry and Damon Gross, led 30-28 at halftime but were outscored 45-33 in the second half.

Cal (16-4 overall, 7-0 PSAC-West) used a 7-0 run midway through the second half to erase a one-point deficit and take a 45-37 lead with 11:15 to play.

The Vulcans still led by eight, 62-54, when James Hairston was called for a foul on Mike Sherry and then was called for a technical foul for pushing Sherry to the ground. The two fouls fouled Hairston out of the game and gave Sherry four free throws. He made all four to cut Cal's lead to 62-58, but on the second free throw Josh Yanke was called for a foul giving Cal two free throws at the other end. Alioune Mbaye made one of the two free throws extending the Vulcan lead back to five, and Clarion was only able to get as close as four twice more, the last time on a Lonnell Jones driving lay-up with two minutes to play making it 65-61.

But Jesse Brooks nailed a three-pointer with a hand in his face and the shot clock running out with 1:24 left o push the advantage to seven and effectively squash Clarion's hopes.

Clarion was able to grab the two-point halftime lead despite Sherry, the team's leading scorer, missing all but six minutes of the half with foul trouble. Richburg and Gross came off the bench to provide eight points apiece in the opening 20 minuets for the Golden Eagles.

Mybae added 14 points and 11 rebounds for Cal, while Julian Logan added 11 and Theron Colao 10.

Clarion is back in action Wednesday when it hosts IUP at 8 p.m. in a key PSAC-West game.

NOTES - The game marked the return of former Clarion star Terrance Vaughns to Tippin Gym. Vaughns, who ranks 12th in school history in scoring with 1,320 points in a career that spanned from 2003-2006 and who also helped lead Clarion to the PSAC-West title in 2005, is in his first season as the graduate assistant coach at California ... The game featured 65 free throws (38 by Cal and 27 by Clarion). Cal was 26 of 38 (68.4 percent) from the line, while Clarion shot 88.9 percent (24 of 27) from the stripe ... The good free-throw shooting couldn't overcome a cold night from the floor though. Clarion shot 38.8 percent from the floor with Cal shooting 51.2 percent.