CLARION, Pa. --- A big Clarion run to start the second half subsided as Gannon closed the gap and eventually took the lead, and the Golden Knights beat the Golden Eagles 78-65 at Tippin Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. Clarion honored their three seniors –
Dev Vaswani,
Brayden Jones and
Traden Gray – in a pregame ceremony.
The high point of the game for the Golden Eagles was the start of the second half, when the defense clamped down on the prolific Golden Knights' offense and held them without a bucket for the first 5:38 of action.
Jeremy Thomas II scored a fast break layup to open the half after
Justice Easter stole the ball from Tasman Goodrick and kicked it ahead to
Gavin Cote, with the latter then feeding Thomas for the bucket.
Cam Kearney scored two possessions later, and when it was all said and done the Golden Eagles opened the half on a 15-0 run punctuated by a fast break three-pointer from Cote.
Goodrick finally got the Golden Knights on the scoreboard with a bucket at the 14:22 mark, though the Golden Eagles were able to maintain the lead for some time beyond that. Goodrick broke a 55-all tie with a bucket at the 8:20 mark, but
Trey Nelson quickly countered with a jumper on the next trip down the floor. The Golden Knights took the lead for good with 6:47 to play on a layup by Goodrick, who finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds on the day.
That score kicked off a 15-2 run for Gannon, who led 74-61 until Easter tipped in an offensive rebound to halt the bleeding. Nelson added another jumper before the end of regulation but it was not enough to keep pace with the Golden Knights.
Nelson and Kearney both finished with 16 points apiece, with Nelson also adding five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Kearney, meanwhile, had four boards. Thomas logged nine points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots, while
Josiah Down came off the bench for 10 points. Easter had a team-high 11 rebounds.
Gannon got off to a quick start, scoring nine straight points to open the game until Kearney made a three-pointer from the corner at the 16:11 mark. Nelson and Kearney made treys to slice the deficit to 15-9, but the Golden Knights eventually built a 14-point lead with 10 minutes to play in the first half. The Golden Eagles caught fire, not only erasing that deficit but taking the lead as well. Dow and Nelson hit jumpers on back-to-bac possessions to tie the game at 27-27, and Thomas and Kearney scored free throws down the stretch to make it 32-27. Nelson drove and scored with 44 seconds left in the half to up the lead to 36-33 and the Golden Eagles took a one-point advantage into the locker room.
