Turnovers haunt Pride in home loss to Grand View
DUBUQUE, Iowa - In their first Heart of America Athletic Conference game inside of the Kehl Center walls, the Clarke University men's basketball team fell to Grand View University 71-58 on Wednesday night.
In a game that saw both teams shoot the exact same percentage from the field at 45.3 percent where the Vikings went 29-for-64 and the Pride went 24-for-53, the major scoring differences came from Clarke hitting three more three pointers than Grand View but GVU made six more free throws than CU and took advantage of a significant turnover margin.
By the end of the 40 minutes of regulation, Clarke committed 25 turnovers to Grand View's seven where the Pride only scored one point off of those seven turnovers, but the Vikings scored 24 points off of the 25 CU giveaways as 15 of those 25 turnovers were in the second half and 10 of those 15 came in the final 10:39 of the game after Clarke held a 52-51 lead, allowing GVU to finish the game on a 20-6 run.
Prior to the Vikings taking their final lead of the game, it was a back-and-forth affair that saw 14 lead changes and four ties over about 29 minutes of the game where CU led by as many as seven points early in the first half at 16-9 and 18-11 before Grand View would eventually enter the half up a bucket at 40-37.
GVU grabbed their own seven-point lead early in the second half, opening the final period with back-to-back makes from two-point range but Clarke would hang around before a DeMarco Clayton layup followed by a three pointer gave the Pride that 52-51 lead.
The game's leading scorer came from the visitors as Daviyon Gaston scored 24 points on 9-of-15 (60%) from the field and 3-of-6 (50%) from three while adding five rebounds and five steals as he got 13 points of support from Lukas Helms and 12 points from Rodell Davis Jr., both producing those performances off the bench.
Clayton lead the Pride with a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double as he had four assists and a steal on the day with the only other double digit scorer for CU was Sunny Parker, who had 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
Clarke men's basketball will get back on the road when they head to Peru, Neb. for a 2:00 p.m. CT scheduled tip against Peru State College on Saturday, Nov. 22.