CLARION, Pa. – Behind 23 points, 15 rebounds and eight steals from Kyheim Hall, the Clarion University men's basketball team knocked off visiting Bloomsburg 86-76 Tuesday night at Tippin Gym.
 
Hall's eight takeaways were four shy of the school record of 12 by Ted Boyer in 1989 but were the most by a Golden Eagle in almost 18 years and tied for the four most in school history. Oronn Brown, who twice record nine steals, was the last Clarion player with eight or more when he recorded eight at Daemen Feb. 18, 1997.
 
"He keeps getting better," Clarion head coach Marcess Williams said of Hall. "His ankle is healed. He is starting to round into shape. People don't realize that Kyheim took a year off last year. He has some cobwebs to get dusted off. They are dusted off. They are falling off every game."
 
Behind Hall, Clarion's defense keyed the victory. The Golden Eagles forced 22 Bloomsburg turnovers coming away with 17 steals and scored 29 points off those Huskie giveaways.
 
"Our energy was great once again," Marcuss Williams said. "We were able to establish tempo and pace. We had a lot of live ball turnovers, which is kind of what we strive for."
 
A pair of runs were also key to the Clarion victory.
 
Trailing by six, 26-20, with 7:12 to play in the first half the Golden Eagles went on a half-ending 21-4 explosion to take a 41-30 halftime lead. That run started with a 17-0 spurt that saw Hall scored eight points, Justin Grant net five of his 10 tallies and Brandon Williams score four of his 12.
 
"That's huge," Marcess Williams said. "When we play with energy, we are tough to beat, especially at home. We provided that energy, had that energy."
 
Then in the second half, after Bloomsburg had cut the lead to seven, 43-36, in the first two minutes of the half, the Golden Eagles broke the game wide open with a 15-0 run that saw BJ Andrews score five of his 15 points and Cameron Grumley net all four of his tallies to push the lead to 22, 58-36, with 14:48 left.
 
"I though the run in the second half was absolutely amazing," Marcess Williams said. "The bench was unreal, the players were unreal. They called three timeouts – two by the coach and one by a player – and we still kept the run going. That's Clarion basketball. We just have to keep that going and be consistent with it."
 
Bloomsburg tried to fight back and got within eight, 73-65, with 3:06 to play before Clarion got four straight points from Brandon Williams to knock the advantage back to 12, 77-65, with 2:39 to play.
 
Darius Stevens chipped in with nine points and six rebounds, while Brandon Williams added four steals and Andrews three for the Golden Eagles, who host defending PSAC West champion East Stroudsburg at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
 
Alex Prislupsky and Anthony McKie led Bloomsburg with 17 points each including five 3-pointers by Prislupsky. Alssene Saintlus added 11 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots, Jon Riles had 10 points and Moustapha Noumbissi had six points and 11 rebounds for the Huskies.