Pride earn first Heart win by double digits at William Woods

FULTON, Mo. - Back in action after not having a midweek game, the Clarke University men's basketball team picked up their first Heart of America Athletic Conference victory by an 87-77 final score on the road at William Woods University on Saturday afternoon in Fulton, Mo.

The Pride used a strong front court performance with four scorers in double figures led by 21 points off the bench from sophomore Desmond Jones, who would score 11 of his 21 from the free throw line on a strong 11-for-12 (91.7%) shooting performance from the line while adding six rebounds and a career-high five assists in 29 minutes.

Joining Jones with over 10 points on the day were a pair of 14-point performances from starters Ivan Vukusic and Carson Lindauer as Vukusic was a rebound shy of a double-double with his 14 points and nine rebounds both setting a Clarke career-high for the Split, Croatia native, while Lindauer went 4-for-6 (66.7%) from three point range, hitting four of the team's nine three pointers in the game while adding five rebounds and a blocked shot in 34 minutes.

Another strong performance off the bench came from Joe Brown, as the freshman produced 11 points on 4-of-6 (66.7%) shooting from the field while adding three rebounds in 12 minutes as CU also saw a pair of eight-point performances from starters Jonovan Howard and Lovre Stanovic while Devon Junghans scored five points off the bench and both Nick Bryant and Michael Kascel produced two points with Bryant adding seven rebounds, an assist and a steal in 34 minutes.

Trading buckets at the start of the game, the two teams kept it close over the opening three minutes of the game before a quick 11-4 run gave Clarke an eight-point lead at 19-11 before CU would grab their largest lead of the first half at 28-17 with just about 11 minutes left in the opening 20 minutes.

The Owls would put up a fight shortly after that lead was gained by the visitors, cutting the lead to one-possession at 30-27 with 7:44 left, eventually entering the halftime break at a two-point deficit at 43-41 where they would carry the momentum over to the second half, tying the game at 45-45 in short order for the first tie in the game since that 7-7 tie in the opening three minutes.

William Woods would take brief  leads, never more than a possession over a four-minute stretch in the second half as the game would remain tight, but more in a back-and-forth nature until about five minutes left in the game when a pair of Bryant free throws gave the Pride a one-point lead, that they would extend and never give up for the remainder of the game, outscoring the WWU 14-3 over the final 4:56, knocking down 10 of their last 12 free throws over that stretch.

Clarke men's basketball will return to their home floor of the Kehl Center for a matchup against Culver-Stockton College on Wednesday, Jan. 21 with a scheduled 7:30 p.m. CT scheduled start between the Pride and Wildcats.