CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion men's basketball team faced its toughest test of the young season on Sunday, falling by a score of 73-54 to West Chester at Tippin Gymnasium.  The Golden Eagles (0-5, 0-2 PSAC) will try to rebound on Tuesday when they take on Lake Erie College in a non-conference matchup at 7 pm.
 
Both teams suffered from huge amounts of turnovers, with Clarion committing 20 giveaways and the Golden Rams 12 turnovers.  West Chester was able to convert those Golden Eagle mistakes, though, outscoring Clarion 23-9 in points off turnovers.  The Golden Rams also commanded the rebound column 47-43 on the afternoon.  
 
Kaison Branch had a team-high 15 points, followed by James Price, who had eight points and six rebounds. Stevan Rodriguez came off the bench to grab a team-high eight rebounds, while adding seven points.
 
Clarion opened the game on a 4-0 run but, after a Golden Rams timeout, West Chester scored the next 17 points to build an 13 point lead. Rodriguez knocked down a three pointer at the 7:58 mark to cut the lead to 14 but that's as close as Clarion would get in the first half. After a Jarrod Stukes three with 13 seconds left the Golden Rams would take a 37-21 lead into the half.  
 
Clarion shot 23% from the field in the first half behind Rodriguez's five points and six rebounds. West Chester shot 34% in the half paced by Malik Jackson's 13 points.

Elijah Cottrill was able to cut the Golden Ram lead to 13 in the second half when he buried a deep three at the 17:33 mark off of an assist from Stukes, but the Blue and Gold weren't able to gain any traction on offense. Sharp three point shooting from West Chester proved to be the difference in the second half as the lead was extended to as big as 24 points.
 
On the afternoon Clarion shot just 29% from the field and 33% from beyond the arc, while West Chester shot 37% from the field.