Pride comeback falls just short in 82-78 loss to Peru State

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Getting back to their home court after starting their 2025 on the road, the Clarke University men's basketball team dropped a tightly contested 82-78 final to Peru State College on Saturday afternoon.

A Bobcats team that came into the game owning a top-two record in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, were put to the test by the Pride as CU was able to play through the opening 20 minutes without trailing by more than 10 late in the half then come back from down 17 points in the second half to take a pair of late leads at 70-69 and 73-71.

Those leads were given to Clarke by a pair of three pointers from DeMarco Clayton, who produced all of his 14 points in the second half and 10 of those 14 down the final stretch of the game with those two three pointers and a pair of layups to get the Pride back to within one possession later in the half.

Down 80-78 after Clayton's final bucket, CU was able to get a steal forced by Daquon Lewis and call a timeout with 17 seconds remaining for a chance to tie the game or take the lead with the shot clock off.

Unfortunately for the Pride, they weren't even able to get the ball across half court as PSC's Ty Griggs forced a steal of his own right at the midcourt stripe and get fouled to go to the free throw line and hit both shots to put the game away with seven seconds left.

The other Clarke players in double figures were Devon Junghans and Lewis as Junghans led all scorers with 23 off the bench for CU going 7-for-11 (63.6%) from the field and 5-of-8 (62.5%) from three point range while Lewis added 18 points on 8-of-16 (50%) shooting while producing five rebounds, four assists, and two steals.

Peru State had four players in double figures led by 21 from Devin Tomlinson, who added six rebounds and four steals, with the Bobcats also getting 13 from Stephen Coleman and 12 from Donzell Johnson off the bench then 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds from Aaron Miller.

Clarke men's basketball will be back on the court in two days for the make-up date for their original postponement at Grand View University when they travel back to Des Moines, Iowa for a 4:00 p.m. CT tip against the Vikings on Monday, Jan. 6.