INDIANA, Pa. - The Clarion men's basketball team found itself embroiled in an offensive shootout against one of the league's top teams, but the Golden Eagles fell 83-74 to IUP at the Kovalchick Complex on Saturday. With the loss Clarion falls to 10-9 overall, 7-6 in PSAC play.
Both
Rob Agurs and
Andre' Anthony cleared 20 points on the evening, with Agurs scoring a game-high 23 points while Anthony finished with 20. Both were highly efficient shooting from the field, going 7-of-13 and 8-of-14, respectively.
Tim Gill also broke double-digits in scoring, finishing with 11 points.
Neither team struggled to put the ball in the hoop, with Clarion shooting 46.7 percent from the field and the Crimson Hawks 49.2 percent. IUP shot well from three-point range, going 10-of-17 for a 58.8 three-point field goal percentage. The Golden Eagles won the rebounding battle 34-31 and added four blocks and eight steals.
The game started well for the Golden Eagles, with Gill scoring the first four points to put Clarion ahead early on. IUP went on a 10-0 run to take the lead, though, capping the run with a three-pointer from Brandon Spain at the 15:26 mark. Agurs made it a two-possession game with a pair of free throw makes at the 11:31 mark to make it 20-14, but the Crimson Hawks tacked on another 10-4 run to build a double-digit lead. That advantage remained for the rest of the first half as IUP led 43-31 at the break.
The Golden Eagles fought back in the second half, though, with Anthony pulling them within single digits again with two free throws at the 16:55 mark. Gill cut it to 50-42 on a layup less than a minute later, and
Cameron Grumley sparked the start of a 8-0 run with a jumper with 15:07 remaining.
Justin Grant capped the big run when he tipped in an errant Grumley shot to make it 53-50.
Grant added another layup to cut it to 57-55, and Anthony tied the score on the next possession with a jumper at the 9:11 mark. IUP went on a 7-1 run to retake the advantage, though, and the lead never dropped below five points the rest of the way as the Crimson Hawks finished with teh win.
