Cavaliers visit Igloo, go home with loss

Clark men's basketball coaches wore pink ties and styled their hair with pink designs while the players sported pink socks and pink-stripped hair. The pink infusion into the O'Connell Sports Complex gym was in support of coaches against cancer and for the team's weight trainer, Bridget Raach, who recently had a double mastectomy.

The Penguins not only supported the cancer cause but also added some more support to their season record. With the 88-51 win over the visiting Concordia junior varsity team, they advance to 4-2 for the season.

Clark won the tipoff and scored the first points with guard Derek Owens going deep for three. The Penguins were up for the rest of the game after the three-pointer.

The the team got themselves into trouble six minutes into the game when the Cavilers went on a scoring run while the Penguins missed most attempted shots.

"We have had a long week," head coach Mike Arnold said. "We just came through finals, our strength coach had a double mastectomy, we did pictures today, we painted the hair and did pink socks for the game. All of those things added together are distractions. They knew all of this was going on and I told them that we had to stay focused."

But when Arnold sent substitutes in for the starters with 10 minutes left in the first half, the Penguins saw the improvement from the fresh legs.

Coming off the bench in the 10th minute, Clark forward Max Snodderly hit a three-pointer to help the team get up 20-10.

With five minutes left in the first half, Clark guard Daniel Anderson threw a scorching ball under the hoop while forward Durham Rosser made a leaping catch to save the ball from going out of bounds, spun around, and put it up to bring the score to 26-14.

The first half ended with a score of 37-25 in favor of Clark. The Penguins shot 47 percent from the court, while the Cavaliers shot 33 percent.

"We went into the locker room and talked about the first half and knew the offense needed to step up," Clark forward Austin Bragg said, "so we made the changes that were needed."

The start of the second half was dominated by Bragg.

"In the second half, we definitely came out with a little bit more poise," Arnold said.

In the first five minutes, Bragg made two back-to-back layups and two jump shots, missing his fifth shot 5 minutes into the half and brought the Penguins up 49-33.

"I was just in a game flow," Bragg said. "I knew tonight was going to be good after those shots."

Bragg led the team with 21 points and eight rebounds.

"We should have a pretty good squad when one of our best players is one of our hardest workers," Arnold said of Bragg.

Thirteen minutes left in the game, Clark started to run away with the score when guard Jerrid Hamler got an offensive rebound and put it back up for two. After the score, forward Arman Kalan got a quick steal and passed it to Hamler who then passed to Bragg for another quick two points, putting the game at 53-36.

In the final 5 minutes of the game, Rosser took the ball down the court with Snodderly trailing behind, Rosser set it up for his teammate and Snodderly took the ball up strong for a layup, bringing the Penguins up 70-44. The two players both red-shirted last year and played in local leagues together.

"It's that redshirt camaraderie," Rosser said. "We played together for a year and a half and I just know where he was going to be."

"It's the chemistry," Snodderly said. "I knew Durham came up with it, so I just came up the court as fast as I could, and he kind of dove off to the side and I was there for a wide open layup."

With three minutes left in the game, Anderson took one of the last shots for Clark and made a deep three-pointer.

Clark held possession of the ball as the last few seconds ticked off the game clock. The Penguins celebrated the 88-51 win over the Cavaliers.

"We need to play harder for upcoming games," Bragg said. "We need to learn how to play in the first half, not just the second half."

The next games for Clark will be as it hosts the Holiday Tournament from Dec. 27-29 in the O'Connell Sports Complex.

Contact Katie Unverzagt at sportseditor@students.clark.edu