Pride outlasted by seventh ranked William Penn 112-89

Pride outlasted by seventh ranked William Penn 112-89
Box Score
February 8, 2023

OSKALOOSA, Iowa – In a difficult matchup against the top team in the Heart and seventh nationally ranked team in the nation, William Penn, the Clarke University men's basketball team were unable to pull the upset in a 112-89 loss.

Competing with the top team in the Heart required the Pride to score and score they did. However, the Statesmen would score over 50 points in both halves, including a 59 piece after the first 20 minutes of play. With 8:16 left to play in the first half, the Pride saw themselves down 34-31 and the Statesmen would finish the half on a 25-9 run the rest of the way to give themselves the 19-point lead into the break.

The Statesmen would break the game open early in the second half and hold their largest lead of the game at 28 points with 17:18 left to play in regulation. The Pride answered with a 17-5 run to pull within 77-64 with 12:59 remaining, but the waves of scoring were too much for the Pride to keep up and the Statesmen continue to be undefeated in conference play.

The game's leading scorer came from the Pride's Anthony Eddy who had his second best scoring output of the season by finishing with 27 points on 9-15 (60%) shooting and grabbed six rebounds. Three other CU players were in double-figures as Biggie Luster, coming off his massive 22 rebound performance, scored 19 points on 8-14 (57%) and collected five rebounds. Stefan Vasic, coming off his career-best 24-point performance, scored 14 tonight on 6-14 (43%) shooting. In 20 minutes of play, Lajarrion Spinks put up 12 points on 5-7 (71%) from the floor.

WPU had five players score in double-figures with Chanze Cruesoe being their leader tonight scoring 16 points on 7-9 (77%) shooting. Malik Edwards, Eddie Daley, CJ Washington, and Muneer Newton all scored 12 points.

The Pride would finish the game shooting 45.2% and the Statesmen would be a bit higher at 52.9%. The three-point shooting was pretty even as the Pride shot 10-33 (30.3%) and the Statesmen were at 10-31 (32.3%).

Up next for the Pride will be the second to last home game of the season for the as they'll take on the Pioneers of MidAmerica Nazarene University on Saturday for a 4:00 pm CST tip.