Box Score CLARION, Pa. – Behind a career-high 24 points from Mike Kromka, the Clarion University men's basketball team won its PSAC opener for the first time in a decade with a 66-48 win over visiting Shippensburg Saturday afternoon at Tippin Gym.
 
Kromka was 10 of 14 from the floor and added six rebounds while tying his career high with four assists.
 
Fourteen of Kromka's points came in the first half as Clarion built a 16-point halftime lead, 37-21. The Golden Eagles then never led by fewer than 13 points the entire second half getting the advantage up to as many as 22, 65-43, late in the game.
 
Clarion (2-2 overall, 1-0 PSAC West) used first-half runs of 11-2 and 8-0 to build the double-digit lead at the break with Kromka scoring six points during the 11-2 run that broke an 8-all tie and gave Clarion the lead for good, while four different Golden Eagles scored during the 8-0 spurt that took the advantage from 24-17 to 32-17 late in the first half.
 
Leonard Patterson added 10 points, a career-high eight rebounds, three steals and a career-best three blocks, the most by a Clarion guard since Gregg Frist had four Feb. 1, 1997, f with Marque Jones also scoring 10 points to go with five rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. Evan Battle chipped in eight points, three rebounds and two steals off the bench. Calvin Edwards had a career-best nine rebounds, the second straight game he set a career high in boards while also scoring three points and handing out two assists.
 
Joe Lococo led Shippesnburg (2-2, 0-1 PSAC East) with 12 points while Dylan Edgar and Reggie Charles each chipped in with eight. Charles also had six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Tony Ellis added a team-high seven rebounds to go with six points.  
 
Clarion returns to action at 3 p.m. Sunday when it hosts Millersville.
 
NOTES – Clarion last win in a PSAC opener came in 2003 when it beat California 79-72 … Kromka's career-best points game came one game after he set a career high for rebounds with 16, while also scoring 19 points, in a win over Houghton Tuesday … The Golden Eagles blocked a season-high five shots in the game, the most since blocking five vs. Kutztown Nov. 19, 2011.