CLARION, Pa. – Dylan Edgar's fall-away jumper from about 10 feet bounced off the rim and then back down for the game-winning basket with 6.2 seconds left, as visiting Shippensburg beat Clarion 73-72 Wednesday night at Clarion.
The Golden Eagles (6-6 overall, 4-5 PSAC West), who held a seven-point lead, 68-61, with 3:19 to play and a six-point advantage, 72-66, with 2:04 left, had one last chance. But an off-balanced, long-range triple by
Darius Stevens wasn't really all that close.
Justin Grant had a career night in the loss for Clarion hitting 12 of 15 shots, including 3 of 3 from beyond the arc, while scoring a career-best 27 points. He was one of four Golden Eagles in double digits, with
Cameron Grumley scoring 12 points to go with six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Stevens added 11 points, while
Rob Agurs, playing his first Clarion home game, had 10 points, six assists, three steals and three rebounds.
Edgar paced Shippensburg (7-6, 3-6 PSAC East) with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Abe Massaley had 12 points, nine assists and four steals and Jay Hardy 10 points. Massaley scored six points and had three assists in the game's final 3:49 including an assist on the game winner.
Clarion, which led 33-31 at halftime, threatened to pull away a couple of times in the second half building leads of eight and seven in the half only to watch the Raiders answer each time.
An 8-0 run put the Golden Eagles up 41-33 with 14:14 to play, but Shippensburg answered with a 10-3 run to get back within a point, 44-43, three minutes later.
Clarion once again run back out with a 6-0 spurt to go up 50-43 with 10 minutes left.
But again Ship answered and tied the game at 54 with seven minutes to play.
The Golden Eagles responded with a 9-2 run that including a pair of threes from Grumley, including a four-point play, to go back up seven, 63-56, with 5:18 to go and still led by the seven, 68-61, following a Grant jumper with 3:19 to go.
But Clarion scored just four points in the final three-plus minutes, as Shippensburg ended the game on a 12-4 run to get the victory.
Clarion returns to action at 3 p.m. Saturday at Seton Hill.
