Second half defense and Dean's double-double power Pride to 64-61 win at Grand View

DES MOINES, Iowa - Finally squaring off on the court against Grand View University after two reschedulings of the game in Dubuque, the Clarke University men's basketball team earned a three-point win over the Vikings on Saturday afternoon.

In the Pride's 64-61 win, Grand View jumped out to a 17-2 lead over the first 4:26 seconds of the game before CU was able to chip away to eventually tie the game in the first half at 24-24 with 7:24 remaining but the Vikings were able to regain a bit of control to lead 39-32 at the halftime break.

After getting the first basket of the second half, Grand View would surrender a 14-2 run to Clarke where they would take a 46-43 lead that they only relinquished to 57-57 and 59-59 ties between the 2:18 and 1:25 mark but never allowed the Vikings to regain a lead for the final 13:04 of the contest.

The significant stat that showed the Pride's second half improvement came on the defensive end of the floor as Grand View shot over 16-of-26 (61.5%) in the first 20 minutes compared to 7-of-24 (29.2%) in the second half as Clarke shot under 50 percent in each half to score matching half efforts of 32 points each.

Three members of the Pride scored in double figures led by the 13-point effort from Daquon Lewis as the Dubuque native added five rebounds to his day. Both Chris Burnell and Chandler Dean scored 12 points with Dean adding 10 boards and six steals for his first double-double of the season and Burnell knocking down three of the final four free throws to push their 61-59 lead to 62-59 and 64-61 at the time.

Clarke men's basketball will be back in the Kehl Center next Wednesday for their second meeting of the season against Mount Mercy University scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. CT tip.