josh omojafo at the line
Matt Durisko
73
Winner Gannon Gannon 1-15,1-11 PSAC
62
Clarion Clar 2-16,0-12 PSAC
Winner
Gannon Gannon
1-15,1-11 PSAC
73
Final
62
Clarion Clar
2-16,0-12 PSAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Gannon Gannon 35 38 73
Clarion Clar 32 30 62

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Victory!!!

Mims, Omojafo and Kent lead Gannon to 73-62 win at Clarion

CLARION, Pa. – The trio of Demetrius Mims (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytechnic Institute), Josh Omojafo (Hamilton, Ontario/St. Jean de Brebeuf) and Zach Kent (Magnolia, Del./Blair Academy (N.J.)) combined for 55 points to lead Gannon to a 73-62 win at Clarion on Monday night. In addition Thomas Whitley (Laurel, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds as Gannon snapped its losing skid to go to 1-15 and 1-11 in the PSAC West.

The Golden Knights handed Clarion a 13th-straight setback while continuing to dominate the series. The Golden Knights have won the last 14 meetings with the Golden Eagles.

Playing for the second time in three days, Gannon held a second half lead for the fourth straight game, only this time the Golden Knights made the plays down the stretch to pull out the win. It also marked the second year in a row the Golden Knights trailed by a decent margin in the first half at Clarion only to rally back for the victory. A year ago Gannon won at Clarion after trailing by 18 points in the first half.

Clarion came out hot from beyond the 3-point arc and jumped to a 21-13 lead with 11:31 left in the first half. The Golden Eagles made 5-of-9 3-pointers during that stretch. Gannon still trailed by eight at 30-22 with just over five minutes to play, but they would score the final nine points of the half to head into the locker room at halftime with a 35-26 lead.

Omojafo accounted for the first seven points. The freshman guard scored on a jumper, then followed with a drive to the basket, and capped his personal run with a 3-pointer. Mims capped the run with a layup with three seconds remaining.

Gerald Jarmon hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game to start the second half to tie the score at 35-35. Gannon followed with a 10-1 burst highlighted by Kent and Mims, who accounted for all 10 points. Kent's layup ultimately gave Gannon the lead for good at 37-35 with 18:50 remaining. Following a pair of Mims free throws, Kent's layup built the lead to six, and Mims hit a turnaround jumper for a 43-35 advantage. Clarion made one of two free throws, but Kent hit a turnaround jumper to give Gannon a 45-36 lead.

Clarion would close to within a bucket as the Golden Eagles scored the next seven points to make it 45-43 with 14:22 remaining. Gannon followed with likely its best stretch of the season as the Golden Knights outscored Clarion 17-4 to take a commanding 62-47 lead with 8 minutes, 15 seconds remaining.

It was a little bit of everyone who took part in the decisive run. Kent got things started with a pair of free throws, and Omojafo followed with a steal, going the length of the floor for a layup. Mims' short jumper and ensuing free throw made it 52-43. Clarion briefly interrupted the run with four straight points, but Gannon ran off ten points in a row. Robertas Jonaitis (Pakruojis, Lithuania/Greater Beckley Christian School) scored on a tip-in, Mims hit a short floater in the lane followed by a steal and resounding dunk. A pair of Jonaitis free throws and Ronny Raphael's (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) layup gave Gannon its biggest lead of the night at 15 points.

Clarion was able to close the gap to eight points at 66-58 with 2:28 to play as Gannon struggled from the free throw line. But with the shot clock winding down on Gannon's next possession, Kent gathered in his own miss, tipped it in and made a free throw to make it 69-58 and ensure the victory.

Mims had his second straight 20-point effort and third in five games as the redshirt junior continues to play exceptional basketball. He made 7-of-14 field goals and 6-of-7 free throws, adding five rebounds, three assists, a pair of steals and a block. He scored 14 points in the second half.

Omojafo turned in a huge first half as the freshman guard scored a season-high 20 points. He scored 15 of those in the first half as he made 6-of-7 shots, and ended the night going 8-of-9 from the floor, including 3-of-4 on 3-pointers. In addition, he hounded Jarmon most of the night, limiting Clarion's leading score to just 13 points on 4-of-18 shooting.

Kent, the 6'10" transfer from Delaware State, scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half and also pulled down a season-high nine rebounds, with a pair of blocks. Whitley, a 6'6" redshirt freshman, grabbed a career-high best 12 boards as Gannon outrebounded the Golden Eagles 47-38. Freshman Raphael added seven points and five rebounds with a pair of steals.   

Clarion had three players in double figures. Cam Kearney led the way with 16 points, with Jarmon totaling 13 and Mekhi Reynolds 11. 

Gannon shot 45.8 percent (27-of-59) from the floor while holding the Golden Eagles to 28.8 percent (17-of-59). Clarion made 10-of-33 3-pointers while Gannon, still without its top three outside shooters, was 4-of-10 from beyond the arc. Gannon went 15-of-27 from the line and Clarion 18-of-24. The Golden Knights committed 12 turnovers while Clarion ended the night with 13.

Gannon's edge inside was quite obvious. Head coach Kelvin Jefferson's team outscored Clarion 38-10 in the paint and 22-13 on second chance points.

The Golden Knights won't have long to celebrate Monday's victory as they play for the third time in five days on Wednesday, January 25. Seton Hill visits the Highmark Events Center with tipoff at 7:30 p.m.    
 
 
Print Friendly Version