CALIFORNIA, Pa. – Despite building 15-point lead with 10 minutes to play, the Clarion University men’s basketball team dropped a 79-74 decision at California Wednesday night.

The Golden Eagles led 60-45 following a Marques Jones basket with 10:05 to play only to watch the Vulcans answer with a 22-4 run that put them up 67-64 2:56 left. Clarion was 2 of 10 from the floor with five turnovers during the stretch.

Clarion (5-13 overall, 3-11 PSAC West) was able to close within one, 67-66, and had a chance to either tie the game or take the lead with 2:11 left. But Evan Battle missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Cal score the next five points to get the lead to 74-68 with a minute left.

The Golden Eagles wouldn’t go away thanks to a pair of Jones three-pointers including one from about three feet behind the arc with 44 seconds left that got Clarion back within two, 76-74.

Clarion then got a big stop with 10 seconds left, but on the rebound outlet pass Jones lost the handle of the ball with a wide open Leonard Patterson ahead of the pack with the ball eventually going out of bounds to the Vulcans (8-10, 7-7) with just over four seconds to play in front of the media table. Tynell Fortune then buried a pair of free throws with 3.4 seconds left to put the game away before Jake Jacubec hit a free throw with just over a second left to set the final score.

Calvin Edwards led Clarion with 19 points and five rebounds with 13 of the tallies coming in the first half. Mike Kromka added 18 points and six rebounds and Jones 14 points.

California was paced by Keith Lowe’s 26 points including 16 in the second half. Fortune added 16 and Quentin Harding 15. Lowe also had nine rebounds with Harding adding six boards and five assists.

Clarion led 45-36 at halftime and then started the second half on a 20-9 run before falling cold from the field in the final 10 minutes.

The Golden Eagles return to action at 7:30 p.m. Saturday when they host Edinboro.

NOTES – The 45 first-half points tied a season high for Clarion, which also scored 45 in the first half against Central Penn Jan. 8 … The loss all but eliminated the Golden Eagles from playoff contention. With seven games left, Clarion trails sixth-place Cal by four games in the race to get into the top six in the PSAC West and the postseason.