Pride fall 109-76 in rematch with William Penn

OSKALOOSA, Iowa - In a rematch of a high-scoring, exciting finish from exactly two weeks prior, the Clarke University men's basketball team was unable to sweep the season series against William Penn University on Monday night in Oskaloosa as the Statesmen earned a 109-78 win.

The Pride were never able to lead in the game with WPU erasing any thought of a second half comeback as they would score 62 points in the final 20 minutes of play including outscoring CU 25-7 over a near seven minutes stretch in the middle of the second half to grow their lead to its largest of 34.

The Statesmen shot 39-for-81 (48.1%) from the field while knocking down a season-high 16 three point shots as WPU only had three games all season where they hit double digit shots from deep with their previous season high being 11 on Jan. 18. in a loss to Park.

Clarke shot 43.3 percent from the field but only hit seven three pointers and were outrebounded 51-33 to see William Penn outscore CU 20-10 in second chance points and took more advantage of the Pride turnovers scoring 14 points off of 12 Clarke giveaways.

Four players on each side scored in double figures as the game's leading scorer was Manny Hammonds, who went 6-for-9 (66.7%) from three point range for 18 of his 22 points while adding seven rebounds as Naysean Baisy added 17, Jacore Williams finished with a 14-point, 15-rebound double-double, and Roy Jones III finished with 13 points, six assists, four steals, and three rebounds.

For the Pride, Marton Safranka would play the late stages of the second half to finish with a perfect shooting night for a team-high 15 points going 5-for-5 from the field, 3-for-3 from three, and 2-for-2 from the three point line. 

Behind Safranka's strong finish, Daquon Lewis had 14 points on 6-of-9 (66.7%) shooting from the field with seven rebounds, two assists, a steal, and a blocked shot, Jonovan Howard scored 11 points getting the start in place of an injured DeMarco Clayton, and Bryce Luster added 10 points off the bench.

Clarke men's basketball will remain on the road for their final two games of the regular season starting with a trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Wednesday, Feb. 19 with a 7:30 p.m. CT scheduled tip against Mount Mercy University.