LATE RALLY FALLS SHORT, CLARION FALLS AT LOCK HAVEN
LOCK HAVEN – A late Clarion rally fell short and the Golden Eagles dropped their 10th straight game 87-76 Wednesday night at Lock Haven.
Clarion (5-12 overall, 0-4 PSAC-West) trailed by 31 points – 64-33 – with 11:07 to play but went on a 36-16 run over the next 10 minutes to close within 11 – 80-69 – on a Justin Collins three-pointer with 51 seconds left. Clarion actually got as close as 10 – 86-76 – before Lock Haven scored the game’s final point.
A slow start doomed the Golden Eagles, as Lock Haven (7-11, 1-3) scored the game’s first 12 points and led 19-4 5:45 into the contest. That lead grew to as many as 25 points – 37-12 – late in the first half, and the Bald Eagles led by 23 – 42-19 – at halftime.
Lock Haven then started the second half with a 19-11 run to get the lead to 31 – 61-30 – with 13:04 to play and still held the 31-point lead a couple of minutes later.
But Lonnell Jones and Josh Yanke each scored 13 points during Clarion’s run to help the Golden Eagles back into the game.
Jones finished with a career-high 23 points and eight rebounds while Yanke added 19 points and six rebounds.
James Chappell led Lock Haven with 31 points, while Billy Arre had a double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds while also picking up five assists.
Turnovers and poor shooting doomed Clarion in the first half. The Golden Eagles turned the ball over 19 times in the half while shooting 30.8 percent (8 of 26) from the field. In the second half, Clarion shot 59.4 percent (19 of 32) and gave the ball away just six times.
Lock Haven was on fire the entire game hitting on 62.3 percent (33 of 53) of its shots. But the Bald Eagles went just 17 of 30 from the free-throw line and were outrebounded by Clarion 36-24. Clarion had 18 offensive rebounds.