2005 Season Recap
CLARION'S MEN'S BASKETBALL OVERCOMES ADVERSITY TO WIN PSAC-WEST
The Clarion University men’s basketball team overcame adversity that included losing three of its top six players to season-ending injuries on its way to the team’s third PSAC-West title in the past nine years.
The season saw Clarion posted a 19-9 overall record and an 8-4 mark in winning the PSAC-West. It also marked the ninth consecutive PSAC playoff appearance for the Golden Eagles, the longest active streak in the PSAC and tied for the fourth longest streak in PSAC history.
Righter has a 17-year record of 286-172 at Clarion and has averaged nearly 19 wins per season over the past nine years with a total record during that stretch of 169-81 and a PSAC-West mark of 69-39.
“There is a lot of pride there when you are a perennial contender, a lot of pride and tradition,” 17th-year head coach Ron Righter said. “Our basketball goals are always to be a playoff teams first, and our next goal is to win the league. It may be a cliché, but we take every game one at a time.”
Clarion was able to accomplish everything despite losing starting guards Justin Collins (2 games, 6.0 ppg) and Maurice Madden (5 games, 11.2 ppg) to injuries early in the season. If losing Collins and Madden wasn’t enough, the Golden Eagles then had to overcome the loss of starting center Michael Clarke (13.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 62.3 percent shooting percentage) in the middle of February.
“Even with all the injuries, I still thought we had a shot to be a playoff team because of the tried and true system that we run and the players we still had playing,” Righter said. “Our goal after the injuries was the same goal we always have. We wanted to be playing for something in the last week of the season. For us to do what we did says something of the way the kids stepped up. It was monumental with kids stepping up in the face of adversity. They believed and we believed we could do it. We were a pretty confident bunch.”
Clarion confidence showed with the Golden Eagles rallying to win four straight games following Clarke’s injury, including the Pitt-Johnstown game in which he went down 40 seconds into the game, to claim its first PSAC-West crown since 2000.
“We got on a roll,” Righter said. “We could have done anything and nothing would have surprised me. It just seemed like we would find a way to win.”
The Golden Eagles won the PSAC-West title with a game to spare when they beat Edinboro 69-61 at Edinboro. It was Clarion’s first regular-season win at Edinboro since 1991.
The PSAC-West crown was made even more amazing considering Clarion started PSAC-West play 1-2 and was facing a tough stretch of four home games that included defending PSAC-West champion California, NCAA-bound Edinboro and IUP and a much-improved Shippensburg squad that had beaten the Golden Eagles 61-57 in the PSAC-West opener.
The coaching staff hoped to win two of the games to keep Clarion in the playoff chance. The Golden Eagles did much more than that sweeping all four contests including an amazing come-from-behind effort against Edinboro and a thrilling two-overtime victory over IUP.
“We just approached it one game at a time,” Righter said. “Our long-term goal was 4-0 and our short-term goal was 1-0. We wanted to build off each game. As a coaching staff, we knew we had to win at least two of them to have a realistic chance at the playoffs. I think in the end, the home-court advantage really carried the day. We really appreciate the following and support we got. It really helped us get through a couple of those games and come out with wins.”
The stretch started with a 62-50 win over Cal Jan. 29 behind 19 points from Frank Torbert and 14 points and 10 rebounds from Ryan Wells.
Four days later, Clarion rallied from an 8-point deficit (64-56) with 2:26 to play to topple Edinboro 72-66. The Golden Eagles ended the game on a 16-2 run and took the lead for good on a Wells layup with 17.2 seconds to play. Wells had a monster game with 29 points and 10 rebounds, while Clarke added 17 points.
“I think the Edinboro game was the turning point, the pivotal point in the season,” Righter said. “We needed seven things to go right down the stretch of that game for us to win. If any one of them didn’t, we would lose. It was a miraculous finish. It showed the kids what we could do.”
The momentum and “lady luck” continued to follow Clarion with a logic defying 82-78 double-overtime win over IUP. The Golden Eagles got beat in almost every significant offensive and defensive category except the scoreboard. Tied at 68 at the end of regulation and 76 at the end of the first overtime, Clarion outscored IUP 6-2 in the second overtime to get the win. Clarke, Wells and Terrance Vaughns each scored 20 points to lead Clarion with Clarke added 14 rebounds.
“There was no rhyme or reason as to why we won,” Righter said. “It was one of those games we decided not to concentrate on after we won it. We were just glad to get the win.”
Somehow, two days later, the Golden Eagles found a way to beat Shippensburg 64-57 behind 17 points from Vaughns and 14 points, 13 rebounds from Wells to run their record to 15-6 overall and 5-2 in the PSAC-West. It marked the 26th time since the 1971 that Clarion has won 15 or more games.
The Golden Eagles hit a speed bump two nights later in Lock Haven following to the Bald Eagles 67-66, and then things looked to be heading south when Clarke was injured less than a minute into the Pitt-Johnstown game.
Back-up Chris Buchanan, though, came off the bench to replace Clarke against UPJ and recorded 14 points and eight rebounds while helping Clarion to a 73-64 win.
Buchanan’s good continued in the next game against Slippery Rock with him recording to a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) in a 75-61 Clarion win. Wells added 14 points, Vaughns and Church each 13 and Torbert 12 in the victory.
Despite the 6-3 PSAC-West record, a shot at the PSAC-West title seemed remote at best with the final three regular-season games coming on the road against California, Edinboro and IUP.
Clarion, however, responded with a 72-49 win at Cal Feb. 19 that coupled with an Edinboro loss to Lock Haven the same day meant the Golden Eagles would be playing for the PSAC-West title at Edinboro four days later.
At Edinboro, Church had the game of his career scoring 25 points, dishing out three assists, grabbing three rebounds and getting two steals in leading Clarion to the victory and the PSAC-West title.
“That was one of Lee’s finest hours,” Righter said. “He played like a pro in that game. There was a sense of urgency and confidence that I hadn’t seen in a while from any player. He put the team on his shoulders and carried the day. The staff was very happy for him. He plays hard all the time and this was his reward.”
Clarion closed the season with loses at IUP (85-68) and at home to Shippensburg (56-51) in the opening round of the PSAC playoffs.
“The season was successful in many ways,” Righter said. “As I look back on it, it hasn’t fully sunk in what this team achieved. It was a total team effort from the players to the coaching staff. All of us at one point face some kind of adversity, and we were able to all overcome it.”
Because of its success, Clarion had two players named all-conference and Righter was named PSAC-West Coach of the Year.
Ryan Wells was a first-team selection. The 6-2, 205 pound senior forward epitomized Clarion’s team. Despite playing against players three or four inches taller and 30-40 pounds heavier than him every night, Wells averaged 16.8 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 1.78 spg and 1.67 apg while shooting 50 percent (171-342) from the floor.
In his two years at Clarion, Wells, the son of Clarion Hall of Fame basketball player Reggie Wells, Sr., and the brother of former Clarion standout offensive lineman and current Arizona Cardinal starter Reggie Wells, Jr., scored 772 points while grabbing 474 rebounds. He added 108 steals and 92 assists.
“Ryan is a kid who took advantage of an opportunity as well as anyone I have coached in 30 years,” Righter said. “He embraced our system and an opening at a position that many would think he was not big enough to play. He bought into what we told him. He caused mismatch problems for other teams as well, because they had to guard him. His numbers speak for themselves. He maximized his ability.”
Junior guard Terrance Vaughns earned second-team PSAC-West honors after averaging 12.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.82 spg and 1.78 apg.
In three years at Clarion, Vaughns is 24 points shy of 1,000 in his career (he has 976) while also grabbing 378 rebounds, dishing out 184 assists and stealing the ball 147 times.
Church joined Wells in giving Clarion to senior leaders.
He played two seasons for the Eagles and averaged 6.4 ppg and 3.4 apg this year.
In his career, he had 287 points, 166 assists, 129 rebounds and 85 steals.
Additional contributors for Clarion this season included sophomore guard Bobby Franklin (7.0 ppg, 3.21 apg), Torbert (5.2 ppg), freshman Garrett Heather from Keystone High School (3.7 ppg), Buchanan (3.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg), sophomore guard Craig Wellman (3.4 ppg) and freshmen forwards Khary Moore (2.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg) and Elijah Everett (0.8 ppg, 1.5 rpg).
GOLDEN EAGLE NOTES – Righter, who won his 300th career game as a head coach this season, is the winningest coach in Clarion history with a record of 286-172 (.624) in 17 years at the school… In 19 seasons as a head coach, he has a record of 310-196 (.613)… The PSAC-West “Coach of the Year” award was Righter’s second at Clarion. The other one came in 1997… Clarion has averaged 18.7 wins per season since the ‘97 season including three 20-win seasons, three PSAC-West titles (1997, 2000, 2005), one PSAC Title (2001) and one NCAA D-II Playoff appearance (2001).