Men's Basketball Falls to Hot-Shooting Golden Eagles

(Grand Rapids, MI)-- An early run and thirteen made three pointers by the Cornerstone Golden Eagles would prove to be the difference, as they defeated the Cleary Cougar men's basketball team 92-75 Saturday evening in Grand Rapids.

Cornerstone scored the game's opening points, and Zane Kemp would answer on the other end to tie the game.  Cornerstone would hit a three, starting 19-4 run that would give the Golden Eagles a 21-6 lead.  Derrick Miller would connect from behind the arc, starting a Cougar run.  One possession later, Chaz Cobbs Jr. would hit a three, followed by a Brian Everhart jumper to get the Cougars within seven points.  After a pair of free throws gave the Golden Eagles a 25-16 lead, Derrick Miller scored, followed by a pair of Amare Slaughter free throws, another Amare Slaughter layup, and a Derrick Miller three, to make the score 27-25 with 8:00 to play in the half.  The Golden Eagles would finish the half strong, rebuilding a double-digit lead that the Cougars would have to chip away at.  Trailing 41-30, Zane Kemp would draw an and-one and convert the three point play, sending the two teams into the half with the score 41-33.

After Cornerstone scored the first points of the second half to take a 43-33 lead, Cleary would score seven unanswered points to make it a 43-30 game.  The Golden Eagles would hit a pair of threes, taking a nine point lead once again.  Zane Kemp would answer with a three of his own on the other end, but the Golden Eagles offense continued to answer.  The Cougars would hang around, keeping themselves within a deficit of ten points through the 5:00 minute media timeout, as they trailed 72-61.  The Golden Eagles would then hit back-to-back-to back threes, opening up the game, and creating a margin too large for the Cougars to overcome.  Cleary would find themselves trailing by as many as twenty-one points, but were able to cut back into the deficit, before ultimately falling 92-75.

Derrick Miller had a team high 16 points, while Zane Kemp added 12 points.  Chaz Cobbs Jr. would have 11 points to round out the double-digit scoring.  Tim Kewley had 4 more to his WHAC lead in blocks to go with 10 rebounds off the bench.

Cornerstone made 13-19 of their three point attempts, compared to Cleary's 10-28 from behind the arc.

The loss drops Cleary's record to 6-13 overall, 5-9 in the WHAC.  The Cougars will next be in action on Tuesday, January 27, when they host the UM-Dearborn Wolverines at Gannon Gymnasium.  The game is set to begin at 7:30 PM.