Pride fall behind in second half to 85-75 loss to Missouri Valley
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Playing their final game of the month of January, the Clarke University men's basketball team dropped what turned into a second half game to Missouri Valley College in the Kehl Center by a final score of 85-75 on Saturday afternoon.
A tie game at 38-38 after 20 minutes of play, the Vikings were able to start the second half outscoring CU 18-4 all the way to the under 15 media timeout and 20-4 after a steal and breakaway dunk on the first play out of that media timeout to lead 58-42 with 14:50 to go in the game.
About five minutes after that basket, a Devon Junghans three pointer made it an eight-point game to cap off a Pride rally but the next closest they would get would be six points at 77-71 with just under three minutes left after a Joe Brown triple then again on their next possession when Nick Bryan hit a layup to keep it at a six-point margin with 1:49 left now.
MVC hit the free throws necessary to maintain their lead and pull it up to double digits to end the game at their 85-75 final margin of victory behind a second half where the Vikings shot 14-for-29 (48.3%) from the field, 5-for-8 (62.5%) from three, and a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line.
Both teams had five players finish in double figures with the Pride's team-high coming from Brown, who had 14 points off the bench on 4-of-8 (50%) shooting from the field with two three pointers, with Carson Lindauer adding 13 points, Desmond Jones scoring 12 while grabbing a team-high nine rebounds, and both Jonovan Howard and Bryce Luster producing 11 points on the day.
Senior guard Nick Bryant stuffed the statsheet over his 39 minutes played to career-highs at nine points and seven rebounds while also dishing out a team-high four assists for one of the best all-around games in the Peosta, Iowa native's four-year career at CU.
The Vikings got 74 of their 85 points from the five-man combination of Devin Davenport (20), Damario Moss (17), Antwon Ferrell (13), Kamari Slaughter (12), and Keanu Patrick (12) with Slaughter, Patrick, and Moss combining for 29 of the team's 45 rebounds as Slaughter had 12 for a double-double, Patrick had nine boards, and Moss added eight.
Clarke men's basketball will return to their home floor of the Kehl Center on Wednesday, Feb. 4 when they host the first of two February matchups against Mount Mercy University for a scheduled 7:30 p.m. CT opening tip between the Pride and Mustangs.