Clarion U. Defense Helps Golden Eagles Top Penn State-DuBois, 84-53

| December 19, 2017


CLARION, Pa. (D9Sports) – Going into the season Clarion University men’s basketball coach Marcess Williams was hoping to get his team to play an up-tempo style of basketball that would include pressuring the basketball across the timeline.

(Photo: Clarion University coach Marcess Williams talks to his team during a first-half timeout Monday night. C-L grad RJ Laugand (No. 2) listens on from the upper-left side. Photo by Chris Rossetti)

Monday night against Penn State-DuBois Golden Eagles fans got a chance to see what that style can do when it is hitting on all cylinders.

Clarion forced 24 PSUD turnovers, including coming away with 15 steals, and turned those giveaways into 40 points in an 84-53 win.

“We were able to establish some pressure,” Williams said. “We thought we would be able to pressure off of our scouts. That was something we could do. We have been trying to do some different things with this group to keep the game up-tempo but to slow it down enough so that we aren’t giving those turnovers back. That has been a problem we have had all year. We kind of fixed that. Seventeen-to-10 assists-to-turnovers for us. Seven-to-24 for them. That was pretty successful for us.”

Mason Mraz, who has won three PSAC West Freshman of the Week honors so far this season, showed why netting 26 points, his third 20-point game of the year, on 10 of 15 shooting, while adding eight rebounds and six steals.

The 6-foot-3 Mraz showed an ability to score both inside – he had an effortlessly looking dunk – and outside – he hit four 3-pointer on nine attempts while also hitting four 3-pointers on nine attempts.

“You never want to anticipate or expect a freshman to come in and be a contributor,” Williams said. “But the way things are shaping out, he has been consistent. When he is shooting the ball, he really shoots it. He scored like this in high school. It was just a small school, Single A, Double A (Laurel High School in the WPIAL outside of New Castle). Nobody expected him to be able to do it here.”

Mraz was a bright spot for the Golden Eagles from the outside, as Clarion hit just 9 of 29 3-pointers in the game.

Williams believes that is too many 3-point shots to put up in a contest but he also understands why his team took so many.

“Twenty-nine is way too many, I think,” Williams said. “But, then again, our bigs aren’t ready to score inside yet. It’s hard to keep throwing it in, throwing it in when you aren’t getting anything.”

Williams said he liked some of the 3-point shots his team did take.

“We were able to get post splits and kick it back outside. I thought we had some success with that. It’s just a matter of developing these young guys.”

It didn’t help Clarion’s cause that its most experienced post player and leading scorer, Kyheim Hall (19.4 ppg) didn’t play for reasons that weren’t disclosed.

“Kyheim not being in there,’ he is going to be our best post scorer,” Williams said. “It (post scoring) takes a hit when he is not there. The young guys have to get better.”

Overall, Williams was just happy to get a victory, something the Golden Eagles (3-8) hadn’t had since Nov. 15 (vs. Penn State Greater Allegheny).

“It’s huge, it’s huge, it’s huge,” Williams said. “They’ve been hearing me 2-8, 2-8, 2-8 all week, 2-8. But Bloomsburg last week we had a chance to win. A couple of other games we had a chance. Davis & Elkins we had a chance. Lincoln I thought we had a chance. We are there but we are not comfortable enough to finish the games. We were able to finish this one today.”

DISTRICT 9 ALUMS SEE PLENTY OF ACTION

The game featured a number of District 9 alumni on both sides with Johnsonburg graduate Cameron Grumley adding 15 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals and Clarion-Limestone grad RJ Laugand netting seven points to go with three steals and two helpers for Clarion.

Watch Grumley nail a 3-pointer.

For Penn State DuBois, Punxsutawney grad Dylan Huey had 13 points and four rebounds.

Watch Huey make a basket in the first half.

Brockway graduate Jacob Perrin added three points. Fellow Brockway grad Andrew Serafini, as well as Clearfield grad Caleb Strouse, also played for the Lions.

CU WOMEN BEAT PSU DUBOIS

CLARION, Pa. (Clarion U. Sports Information) – The Clarion women’s basketball team started fast on offense and clamped down on defense as the game went on, defeating Penn State-DuBois 83-36 at Tippin Gymnasium on Monday night. The Golden Eagles (6-5, 1-4 PSAC) held the Nittany Lions to single digits in scoring in each of the last three quarters as they rolled their way to a 47-point victory at home.

Clarion held the Nittany Lions to just a 24.1 field goal percentage in the game, including a minuscule 5-of-27 mark in the second half of action. The Golden Eagles forced 29 turnovers and turned them into 34 points, keeping PSU-DuBois at bay and never allowing them back into the game.

Amesha Harden-Pullium finished with a team-high 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting while also adding five steals. Jordan Bekelja also went 6-of-11 with 15 points, five assists and five steals. Tracy Wiehe had her third double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Yasmin Lewis had a team-high 11 rebounds on the night.

PSU-DuBois pulled within 5-4 early in the first quarter but that would be the closest they came to tying or taking the lead all night long. Lewis scored in the paint to make at the 3:54 mark to make it 17-10 and Tynita White upped the lead to nine points on the next possession, taking a pass from Bekelja and laying it in. Bekelja gave Clarion their first double-digit lead with 1:02 remaining in the first quarter, scoring in transition after a steal by Wiehe to make it 23-12.

The Golden Eagles never stopped putting on pressure, though, and eventually, the lead ballooned to more than 20 points. Bekelja stripped Kristen Williams of the ball and laid it in on the fast break to make it 35-14 with 3:48 left in the second quarter, and the junior guard increased the lead to 29 points with 22 seconds left when she scored another transition bucket. Harden-Pullium finally pushed the Golden Eagles’ advantage to more than 30 points midway through the third quarter, taking a feed from Taylor Moltz and burying a three-pointer to make it 56-26. Moltz herself gave Clarion a 40-point edge at the end of the period, making a three-pointer off a pass from Yndiah Bobo with 19 ticks of the clock remaining.

It was all academic the rest of the way as the Clarion bench got in on the fun as well. Shelby Coughenour made a jumper from the elbow to make it 71-29 and added another J at the 6:20 mark to push the lead to 43 points. Coughenour added two free throws at the end of the fourth to wrap up her six-point night as Clarion rolled to the finish.


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