SHIPPENSBURG (8-11 overall, 0-4 PSAC-West) at CLARION (13-4, 3-1)
PSAC-WEST MENS BASKETBALL
DATE: Jan. 31, 2004 LOCATION: Tippin Gym, Clarion, Pa. TIME: 3 p.m.
LAST GAMES: Clarion beat Lock Haven 72-57, while Shippensburg lost to California 73-57
NEXT UP: Clarion hosts the Univ. of DC Monday at 7 p.m. while Shippensburg hosts IUP Wed. at 8 p.m.
CLARION LAST 10 GAMES: 8-2 SHIPPENSBURG LAST 10 GAME: 2-8
NCAA D-II EAST REGION RANKINGS: Clarion is 9th; Shippensburg is not ranked
CLARION-SHIPPENSBURG SERIES LAST 10 GAMES: Clarion leads 7-3
LAST SEASON: Shippensburg won 67-66 at Clarion and 98-96 at Shippensburg
RECENT CLARION-SHIPPENSBURG SERIES HISTORY: Shippensburg has won the last three meetings against Clarion by a grand total of eight points including twice last year by a total of three points Prior to Ships win over Clarion in the last meeting between the teams in the 2001-02 season, Clarion had won seven straight and nine of 11 against the Red Raiders The two games last season both went down to the wire In Shippensburgs 67-66 win at Clarion Jeff Madera hit a half-court shot at the horn to beat the Golden Eagles moments after Clarion had taken a 66-64 lead on a free throw by Rollie Smith with three seconds left Clarion had led 33-27 at halftime and 64-57 with 1:14 left only to see the Red Raiders out score the Golden Eagles 10-2 in the final 58 seconds In the last game of the regular season at Shippensburg, the Red Raiders led 44-42 at halftime and built the lead up to 13 points six minutes into the second half Clarion rallied and trailed by two points with 25 seconds left but could never get over the hump.
CLARION LEADERS: Michael Clarke 13.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 12 blocks, 26 steals Ranks 20th in the PSAC in scoring; Terrance Vaughns 12.2 ppg, 34 three-pointers, ranks 5th in the PSAC in Free-throw percentage at 84.6% (55-65; Justin Collins 10.3 ppg, 43 three-pointers; 48.9% 3-point percentage (43-88) Ranks 2nd in the PSAC in 3-point field-goal percentage; Ryan Wells 9.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.1 spg Ranks 5th in the PSAC in rebounding & 6th in steals; Lee Church 5.1 ppg, 3.7 apg Ranks 8th in the PSAC in assists
SHIPPENSBURG LEADERS: Chuck Davis 15.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg; Charles Jones 11.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg; David Levetter 10.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg; Marcus Hudson 8.2 ppg, 5.5 apg, 2.7 spg Ranks 1st in the PSAC in assists & 2nd in the PSAC in steals.
CLARION NOTES: Clarion has rebounded nicely from its first two-game losing streak of the season to win its last three contests The Golden Eagles are coming off a 72-57 win at home over Lock Haven Ryan Wells scored a career-high 25 points while grabbing 13 rebounds He shot 11-for14 from the field Clarion, which leads the PSAC in defense (61.9 ppg) held an opponent under 60 points for the 8th time in the last 10 games and for the ninth time this season In the past 10 contests, the Golden Eagles are allowing an average of just 58.3 ppg while scoring 70.3 ppg
SHIPPENSBURG NOTES: The Red Raiders are coming off a hard-fought 73-57 loss at home to California Ship led 29-26 at halftime and 47-44 with 9:30 left but was outscored 29-10 down the stretch David Levetter led Ship with 16 points, 7 rebounds Shippensburg started the season 6-2 but has since gone 2-9 including dropping its last four games while scoring an average of 55.3 ppg in those four contests.