Gallery: (12-21-2024) 2024-25 Men's Basketball vs. Clarion
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University men's basketball team snapped a four-game losing streak on Saturday and picked up its first home win of the season by outlasting Clarion, 66-63, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) clash at Heiges Field House.
Shippensburg (3-7, 2-3 PSAC) asserted itself defensively in the first half and in the final 10 minutes, holding Clarion (8-3, 3-3) 16 points under its season average. The 63 points allowed by the Raiders are the fewest by an opponent this season.
SU held an 11-point lead at halftime after limiting the Golden Eagles to just 22 first-half points. However, Clarion needed just four minutes to even the score, opening the second half with a 15-4 run. The final 20 minutes featured five ties and six lead changes.
The visitors held their largest lead of the game, 53-48, with 10 minutes to go. Shippensburg countered with a 5-0 spurt to tie the score, and the two teams played within six points the rest of the way. Both teams shot an identical 13-of-27 (48.1 percent) from the field in the second half.
With the score tied at the four-minute mark, redshirt-sophomore
Markus Frank drained his only three-pointer of the game to give SU a 64-61 lead. It was SU's last field goal of the game.
The two teams combined for just four total points in the final 3:52. Clarion's only field goal down the stretch was a putback layup with five seconds left that got it within two. A foul on the play resulted in an and-one opportunity, but the free-throw attempt was erased by a lane violation. Junior
Timmy Conner made 1-of-2 free throws at one end, and the Golden Eagles missed a long three at the buzzer.
Clarion scored 31 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half but only scored 32 points in the other 30 minutes. The Golden Eagles entered Saturday with the PSAC's top three-point field goal percentage (40.5 percent) and the league's No. 2 field-goal percentage (48.6 percent), but the Raiders held them to 14 percent (3-of-22) from three-point range and 40 percent (22-of-55) from the field.
Shippensburg entered Saturday with the PSAC's worst three-point percentage (27.2 percent) but shot 41 percent (7-of-17) from long range. SU also posted a positive assist-to-turnover ratio (14 assists, 13 turnovers) and recorded seven steals.
Frank led the Raiders with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting. He was one of three Raiders in double figures; freshman
Jaydon Smith scored all 13 of his points in the first half, while junior
Denzel Figueroa added 12 points. Both Smith and Figueroa were one point short of their career high. It was Figueroa's third game in double figures this season and the sixth of his career.
Junior
Donovan Hill was limited in second-half minutes due to foul trouble but still led the Raiders in rebounds with eight. Hill added three points and three assists.
Clarion's Cam Kearney led all players with 23 points and finished with a double-double by pulling down 10 rebounds. Kearney scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half and was 11-of-13 at the free-throw line. Shippensburg Area Senior High School alumnus Jeremy Thomas II had 14 points for the Golden Eagles while Trey Nelson had 10 points and three assists.
Shippensburg hosts Wilson at 3 p.m. tomorrow at Heiges Field House.
