PAINESVILLE, Ohio --- The Golden Eagle men's basketball team endured their first road test of the 2023-24 season on Tuesday evening, falling by a 75-59 score to Lake Erie. Clarion held close with the Storm early on before the latter pulled away in the latter moments of the first half.
 
Senior point guard Steve Kelly had his best scoring night to date in the young season, shooting 7-of-11 from the field for 20 points. However, he was the only Golden Eagle player to crack double-digits as the Storm largely held the Clarion offense in check, keeping them to a 39.6 field goal percentage. Lake Erie also controlled the boards, outrebounding the Golden Eagles 43-29, and the Storm shot 46.0 percent from the field for the game.
 
Kelly and Jeremy Thomas II were quick to put the Golden Eagles on the scoreboard, notching the first buckets of the game for Clarion and tying things up early on. Things were still close just six minutes into the game as Traden Gray came off the bench for a bucket, taking a pass from Justice Easter and laying it in to cut the Storm's lead to 13-11, and Kelly kept it a single-digit game at the 6:35 mark with a three-pointer off an assist from Jayson Harris.
 
Kelly struck again with another trey late in the first half, this time with Cam Kearney making the assist. That made it 31-23 with 4:42 left in the opening period, and Harris later cut it to 35-27 with a dunk with just under three minutes to go. Clarion got no close in the half, though, as Jonny Manning scored with 88 seconds left to make it 37-27 at the halftime break.
 
The Storm's lead dipped back into the single digits early on in the second half, with Gray scoring at the 16:56 mark to cut it to 41-33. Lake Erie's Jacob Plantz put it back over 10 points just a few minutes later, though, scoring in the paint to make it 43-33, and the Golden Eagles never again cut the Storm's lead to under 10. Jaylen Shippen did knock down a three-pointer with 2:55 left in regulation to make it 67-52, though that was as close as it got the rest of the way.