Pride lose battle on the boards in 89-79 defeat to Eagles

FAYETTE, Mo. - Back on the road for the third time in four games since the turning of the calendars to 2024, the Clarke University men's basketball team failed to get back into the win column in a 10-point loss to Central Methodist University on Monday evening.

The 89-79 victory for the Eagles was due in large part to their 41-27 rebounding advantage in the game and a 16-4 run to open the first 5:29 of the second half saw CMU grow their lead to as much as 19 at its largest when they held an 83-64 advantage with just over three minutes to play in the game.

CU would finish the game outscoring Central Methodist 13-6 over those final three minutes behind strong offensive production from Stefan Vasic, Riley Hawkins, and Demarcus Zaragoza off the bench with that trio combining for 19 of the team's 45 bench points led by Chris Burnell's team-high 16 as Carson Lindauer also added 10 points in 14 minutes off the bench.

Central Methodist countered that bench production with all five of their starting lineup finishing in double figures led by Everett Stubblefield's game-high 17 points while adding six rebounds, two assists, and two steals while Isaiah May had a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double, Trey Sinegal had 12 poitns, Peter Turay had 11, and TreVon Smith added 10 of his own.

The plus-14 rebounding advantage led to 17 second chance points for the Eagles as they also made more free throws (20) than the Pride attempted in the whole game (12) with Clarke being only making one less shot from the field (30-29) that came from three point range (11-10) in favor of CMU.

The pride will be away from game action until this Saturday when they host Benedictine College at the Kehl Center on Jan. 20 at 2:00 p.m. CT to start a three-game homestand that includes the make-up game at home against Peru State College on Monday, Jan. 22.