Pride second half comeback falls short in road loss to MidAmerica Nazarene
OLATHE, Kan. - Being away from game action for a week, the Clarke University men's basketball team fell in a Saturday afternoon road matchup against MidAmerica Nazarene University by a final score of 76-68.
Following a tight, back-and-forth, first half that saw neither side lead by more than four points over the opening 20 minutes of action as the halftime score saw the Pioneers hold a 43-42 lead after Elijah Vos made a three pointer at the buzzer.
MNU would then jump out to a seven point lead over the first 2:21 of the second half before the Pride would get back to within three points but that's right when the Pioneers would answer with an 11-1 run to take a 51-48 game to their largest and first double digit lead of the game at 62-49 capped off by another Vos three pointer.
Slightly growing their lead to 14 points, MidAmerica Nazarene would have to stave off a comeback effort from CU that saw the Pride cut the deficit down to four points at 72-68 with just unver two minutes remaining in the game after a pair of Maximiliano Bowman buckets but the Pride wouldn't be able to score the basketball for the rest of the game after the Pioneers made back-to-back two pointers and grabbed an offensive rebound to help kill more clock.
Bowman was the game's leading scorer as he finished with 25 points and six rebounds while shooting 9-fo-17 (52.9%) from the field and 4-for-6 (66.7%) from three point range as the only other member of the Pride in double figures was Devon Junghans who added 10 points off the bench going 3-for-4 (75%) from three point range.
MNU also only had two players in double figures as Gary Clay finished with 20 points and eight rebounds while Gerard Bosch finished with a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Pioneers.
Clarke men's basketball will return to the Kehl Center floor for a Monday night matchup in the Heart of America Athletic Conference when William Penn University visits Dubuque for a 7:30 p.m. CT scheduled tip.