Bowman's game-winner gives Pride one-point win at Culver-Stockton
CANTON, Mo. - Making up a game originally scheduled for last week but moved due to potentially dangerous road conditions, the Clarke University men's basketball team traveled to Canton, Mo. to take on Culver-Stockton College as the Pride would come up with a slim one-point win over the Wildcats on Monday night.
The game would come down to each team's final shot of the game as CU would cut the Culver-Stockton lead to two points then force a turnover from the Wildcats with about 20 seconds left to go on the fast break where DeMarco Clayton looked to be trapped under the basket before kicking out to Hasmar Francois who made the extra pass to Maximiliano Bowman in the corner for three as the junior would knock down the shot to give Clarke a one-point lead with just under 14 seconds left.
After calling a timeout, CSC would draw a foul on a baseline drive with 2.8 seconds left to set up an out of bounds play on that baseline where they drew up a set for Tai Walters-Whitaker to take about a 15-foot jumper that would bounce short as the buzzer went off to seal the win for the Pride as Bowman was on the defensive assignment guarding Walters-Whitaker to provide a strong shot contest.
Before hitting the game winner, Bowman had a rough night of shooting, going 3-for-10 prior to the final shot but led all players in the game with six assists and didn't turn the ball over while adding four rebounds in 35 minutes as Walters-Whitaker was the game's leading scorer with 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field while adding seven rebounds and five assists.
Clarke's leading scorer was Daquon Lewis, who produced 18 points and a team-high eight rebounds while shooting 7-of-12 from the field and causing the steal that lead to the game-winning shot as Clayton (14), Carson Lindauer (10), and Bryce Luster (10) all also finished in double figures.
Luster was part of a bench group that combined to score 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting as Francois and Devon Junghans each had eight points with Luster and Francois combining for seven rebounds and three assists as well.
Connor Davis and Martez Rhodes both had 20 or more for the Wildcats with Davis going 7-of-15 from the field for his 22 points and Rhodes making six of his 11 three point attempts to get to his 20-point total.
Pride men's basketball will prepare for their next game, which is slated to be a Wednesday night matchup at William Penn University for the second matchup between the Pride and Statesmen in nine days with a scheduled 7:30 p.m. CT tip in Oskaloosa, Iowa.