Pride fall on the road as Mustangs pull away late

Pride fall on the road as Mustangs pull away late
Box Score
February 19, 2025

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Making their final midweek road trip of the season, the Clarke University men's basketball team was unable to get back in the win column, falling by a final of 87-72 to Mount Mercy University on Wednesday night.

After trailing by as many as 11 points in the first half, the Pride would put up a bit of a comeback effort late in the opening 20 minutes to put up a 9-2 run over about a two minute stretch that would extend to finish the final 3:31 13-5 to head into the break down three points at a 44-41 MMU lead.

Trading blows early in the second half, the Mustangs would pull away slowly over an extended stretch during the first 10 minutes of the half before an 11-0 run would take a six-point game to a 17-point game and eventually Mount Mercy's largest lead of the game at 18 with 5:50 remaining to run away with the win.

The Mustangs shot at an 18-for-32 (56.3%) ckip from the field with only one of those makes being a three pointer while CU hit four threes but shot 11-for-26 (42.3%) from the field in total as the game totals finished at 43.3 percent from the field for Clarke and 49.2 percent from the field for Mount Mercy.

The game's leading scorer was MMU's Jaxson Fried, who produced 23 points and 15 rebounds for a double-double while Rusmir Hamzic scored 20 points off the bench and Aiden Yamilkoski produced a 13-point game to round out the double figure scorers for the Mustangs on the day.

Clarke's starting lineup had their top four scorers led by a season-high tying 18-point performance from Daqon Lewis while Maximiliano Bowman and Carson Lindauer each scoring double digits with Bowman at 17 points and Lindauer at 10 points while Nick Bryant stuffed the statsheet with eight points, five rebounds, four assists, and two steals in 28 minutes.

Clarke men's basketball will wrap up their 2024-25 season with their final road trip of the year when they head to Peru, Neb. for a Saturday afternoon matchup against Peru State College with a 2:00 p.m. CT scheduled opening tip.