Hard fought battle ends in a 92-87 defeat to Central Methodist

DUBUQUE, Iowa – In a back-and-forth game where there were 19 lead changes and 114 second-half points, the Clarke University men's basketball team were unable to pick up their sixth conference win of the season after being defeated by the Central Methodist Eagles 92-87.

The Pride trailed 36-29 after the first half, but started the second on a 20-8 run to take a 49-44 lead with 15:21 left to play in regulation. The lead would change hands nine more times until Everett Stubblefield would knock-down a three-pointer for the Eagles to take a 67-65 lead with 6:06 left.

CMU wouldn't relinquish the lead the rest of the contest, however Clarke didn't go away easily as they would chip away at a once 10-point Eagle lead down to a one possession game with three seconds left on the clock. The Pride were forced to foul as the Eagles would have possession, but Jordan James of CMU would convert on an and-one after an overhead lob from the inbounder to put the Pride away.

CU bounced back nicely in the shooting department from Wednesday's contest as they were able to shoot 28-61 (45.9%) from the floor and 10-28 (35.7%) from beyond the arc. Defensively, they held CMU to 26-62 (41.9%) shooting and 5-24 (20.8%) from three.

There were 69 free-throws attempted in tonight's game, but unfortunately for the Pride, 46 of them were attempted by the Eagles and they were able to convert on 35. The Pride shot a respectable 21-23 (91.3%) from the stripe.

CMU had three players combine for a total of 69 points. Stubblefield was a pest for the Pride defenders in the second half, scoring 18 of his game-high 25 points. Quinan Rieves delivered a double-double scoring 23 points and collecting 11 boards. Jordan, went a perfect 13-13 from the free-throw line on his way to 21 points.

Chris Burnell led the scoring attack for the Pride, scoring 20 points on 7-18 (38.8%) shooting and added five rebounds. Biggie Luster recorded his fourth double-double of the campaign as he finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Anthony Eddy shot 3-6 (50%) from downtown on his way to 17 points and was a perfect 6-6 from the stripe.

You can catch the Pride at home, Monday, February 6th at 6:00 pm as they'll face another conference opponent in the Grand View Vikings.