by Clarke University’s men’s basketball team came up short Saturday afternoon in a Heart of America Athletic Conference home game with Baker University of Baldwin City, Kansas. The visiting Wildcats grabbed the lead for good with just over three minutes to play and held on for a 72-68 win.
Clarke (3-4, 1-2 Heart) opened up an eight-point lead–its biggest lead of the game–midway through the opening half and led 30-27 at halftime. Baker opened up a five-point lead early in the second half, but a Darius Lasley (Meskwaki Nation) three-point field goal with 11:36 remaining put Clarke up 43-42. The Pride led for the next eight minutes. Baker regained the lead when Jalen Patterson sank a pair of free throws with 3:16 left that gave the Wildcats a 59-58 lead. The Wildcats drained three treys after that. The Pride closed within two four times in the game’s final 2:23, but Baker always had a answer.
Lasley led all scorers with 21 points. He hit 7 of 11 shots from the field, including 4 of 6 from beyond the three-point arc, and added five rebounds, two assists and three steals. Dylan Kurey (SO/Kaukauna, Wis.) drained his first four attempts from beyond the three-point arc and finished with 14 points. Nick Marshall (SO/Greenwith, Australia) and Jordan Lake (SO/Peosta, Iowa) added 12 and 10 points, respectively. Marshall and Keith Johnson (SO/Dubuque, Iowa) had seven rebounds apiece.
