CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles men's basketball team held got off to a quick start shooting the basketball on Saturday afternoon, but they could not sustain the torrid early pace as Seton Hill beat Clarion 77-60 at Tippin Gymnasium.
 
Both teams struck from long range in the first 20 minutes of action, with Clarion shooting 5-of-12 from beyond the arc and the Griffins 9-of-17 from the land of plenty. That led to a back-and-forth first half, with Seton Hill leading 35-33 heading into the locker room at the break. Gavin Cote made two three-pointers in the first 2:12 of action, including a trey on the team's opening offensive possession and another just two minutes later.
 
Not content to let Cote have all the fun, Justice Easter drilled a three from the left corner to give his team an 11-5 lead, and Traden Gray made a shot from the deep right corner to make it a 16-13 advantage. The big man finished off an old-fashioned three-pointer play near the halfway point of the half, scoring through contact from Edir Ortiz, but that was the last time Clarion held a lead the rest of the half. Jeremy Thomas II tied the game at 21 with a bucket in the paint but Seton Hill scored 14 of the next 24 points to go ahead 35-31. Cam Kearney scored with under 30 seconds to go in the half to cut the deficit to two points.
 
Seton Hill opened the second half on an 8-0 run, going ahead 43-33 after an and-one by Kedrick Curtis. Kearney broke the drought with a short jumper at the 16:09 mark, but Seton Hill's lead soon drifted into double-digits and stayed there the rest of the way. The junior guard scored again with 3:20 remaining to cut the deficit to 67-56, but the Griffins controlled action the rest of the way to take the win.
 
Kearney kept up his torrid scoring pace, putting up a game-high 25 points on 8-of-18 shooting, and 9-of-9 from the free throw line. Thomas had five points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while Trey Nelson had six points and nine assists.
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