Box Score CLARION – Down nine with seven and a half minutes to play, the Clarion University men's basketball team went on a game-ending 19-5 run fueled by seven points from freshman Winfield Willis to rally past upset-minded Lock Haven 72-67 Wednesday night at Tippin Gym and stay in the hunt for a PSAC Playoff berth.
 
The Golden Eagles (15-10 overall, 11-8 PSAC West) are tied with California, a 57-51 loser at Slippery Rock Wednesday night, for the fourth and final playoff spot awarded to the PSAC West. Each team has three games left including against each other Feb. 22 at Cal.
 
On Wednesday night, Clarion trailed winless Lock Haven (0-22, 0-19) 62-53 following a Muhammad Amin layup with 7:51 to play but turned up the defensive intensity to pull out the victory.
 
The Golden Eagles didn't allow a Bald Eagle basket after the Amin layup – the Bald Eagles were 0-for-8 from the field during that stretch – while also forcing a pair of Lock Haven turnovers, the first of which on a steal by Nate Wilson resulted in a game-tying slam dunk on the other end by Mike Kromka that knotted the score at 64 with 3:27 to play.
 
Kromka then gave Clarion its first lead since midway through the half on two free throws with 2:53 to play before Lock Haven retook the lead, 67-66, on a pair of Anthony Baker free throws with 1:59 to play. But Bud Teer, retied the game when he one of two free throws at the 1:42 mark and then gave Clarion the lead for good on a layup off a Leonard Patterson pass with 1:21 to play. Winfield Willis made it 71-67 with a layup at 55 seconds before a Calvin Edwards free throw with six seconds to play set the final score.
 
Teer led Clarion with 18 points and 13 rebounds, his second straight double-double and his ninth of the season. Willis added 16 points to give him 416 on the year, the second most ever by a Clarion freshman. Edwards added 13 points and Patterson 11.
 
Baker led Lock Haven with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Andre Rivers had 12 points and eight rebounds. Armandi Marshall and Terrell Johnson also each chipped in 12 tallies.
 
Lock Haven led by four, 39-35, at halftime thanks in part to an 8-0 run late in the half before the teams traded the lead three times with three ties in the first eight minutes of the second half.
 
The Bald Eagles then used a 13-2 run that saw Baker scored seven of his points to go up by the 62-53 score. But a pair of Teer layups in between two Patterson free throws stopped the Lock Haven momentum.  
 
Clarion returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Saturday when it hosts Edinboro in the season-home finale. It will be Senior Night.
 
NOTES –Clarion has won 15 games for the 13^th time in the last 16 years … The Golden Eagles are 34-9 vs. Lock Haven since 1991 and have won nine straight and 20 of 22 over the Bald Eagles at Tippin Gym … The loss was Lock Haven's 41^st straight defeat and 39^th consecutive conference loss … With the 13 rebounds, Teer now has 495 in his two-year career. He needs five more to become the 10^th player under 24^th year head coach Ron Righter to have 500 in his career, and he and Paul McQueen (635) would be the first teammates to each have 500 boards since Allen Stevens and David Shearer in 2002.