INDIANA, Pa. — Five Golden Eagles scored in double figures as the Clarion men's basketball team opened the season with its second straight victory, rolling past Concord 81-55 on Saturday night at the Kovalchick Convention & Athletic Complex. Clarion (2-0) used a 19-0 first-half run to turn a 12-7 edge into a commanding 31-7 advantage. The Blue & Gold forced 20 Mountain Lion turnovers—converting them into 19 points behind 16 steals—while committing just eight giveaways and dominating the offensive glass 17-6.
Clarion broke open the first half—and the game—with its 19-0 surge midway through the period, stretching a 12-7 lead to 31-7 while holding Concord scoreless for nearly seven minutes. Earlier in the frame, Khaden Moore and Davyon Butler knocked down 3-pointers in the opening minutes, and Aydan Cunningham added two early layups to establish the early lead. During the decisive run, Butler, Zaire Smaltz, Cunningham, Moore and Ricky Goode-Wright all contributed to the scoring column, highlighted by Goode-Wright recording a steal and fastbreak layup before drilling a 3-pointer to make it 30-7. Concord eventually got back on the board late in the half, but the Golden Eagles continued to answer behind Moore, Marcqell Freeman and Butler, finishing the period with 11 steals and 13 forced turnovers to carry a 41-21 advantage into the break.
The Golden Eagles kept the pressure on after halftime, using an 8-0 run midway through the second half to push the margin from 60-34 to 68-34 behind five points from Smaltz, a Moore free throw and a Cunningham dunk. Earlier in the period, Cunningham opened the scoring with a layup, Goode-Wright buried a 3-pointer and Butler threw down a dunk off a Smaltz feed following a Smaltz steal to build a 48-23 cushion less than two minutes into the half. Freeman and Butler added perimeter triples prior to the 8-0 surge, helping Clarion tally five steals, seven forced turnovers and eight offensive rebounds in the second half to finish with a 13-6 edge in second-chance points. After Concord trimmed the deficit from 74-38 to 74-47, Clarion closed out the 81-55 victory behind a Jayden Statum free throw, an assisted dunk from Cunningham, a Butler steal and free throw, and a Messiah Dixon 3-pointer.
Cunningham paced the Clarion attack with 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go along with six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Butler finished with 16 points, two assists, two steals and a block, while Moore chipped in 13 points and three steals. Goode-Wright (10 points, eight rebounds, two steals) and Smaltz (10 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals) rounded out the double-figure scorers. Kody Frey led Concord (1-2) with nine points and seven rebounds, while Kam Bender and Victor Yatou added eight points apiece.
