INDIANA, Pa. – Clarion sank two free throw with three seconds left to break a tie and came away with a 70-68 win over Point Park on Friday night at Indiana PA's KCAC.
Point Park faced a deficit of 16 early in the second half and trailed by 10 with 8:17 remaining following a pair of Clarion free throws. Over the next five minutes, Point Park went on a 14-5 scoring run to pull within one at 74-73 with 3:33 remaining.
Point Park's scoring run was capped by a layup by
Grant Welch, three-point play by
Obi Okafor, and made free throw by
Caleb Whitaker on back-to-back-to-back possessions.
Clarion again made the lead five with back-to-back layups, before Welch was fouled and sent to the line for three free throws. Welch buried all three shots to cut the Golden Eagle lead to two (78-76) with 2:01 remaining.
After a missed three-pointer by Clarion's Messiah Dixon, Okafor drove to the rim and laid in a two-pointer to knot the score at 78 apiece with 73 seconds remaining.
After both teams came up empty on their next possessions, Clarion's Davyon Butler drove to the rim against Whitaker and drew a foul on his layup attempt. His free throws gave Clarion an 80-78 advantage.
On the ensuing inbounds pass, Point Park tried to pass to midcourt, but Clarion forced a turnover to close out the narrow win.
Both teams shot 46 percent from the floor, with Point Park holding a 46-38 scoring advantage in the paint.
Clarion took advantage of Point Park miscues with 21 points off of 21 Pioneer turnovers.
Jayden Davis led four double-figure scorers for Point Park with 16 points, five rebounds and two assists. Okafor added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Welch chipped-in 13 points, four rebounds and four assists, while
Emeka Anwah finished with 11 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
Josh Frazier added nine points and
Jackson Rhodes scored seven for PPU.
Butler scored a game-high 29 points to go with five steals to lead Clarion, making five 3-pointers in the win. Khaden Moore chipped in 10 points and six rebounds.
Point Park returns to Indiana on Saturday evening to take on IUP in a huge regional matchup. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Field House.
