Fayette, Mo. – The Central Methodist University men's basketball team won their second straight game on Wednesday evening, defeating Clarke University by a final of 80-78, in a Heart of America Athletic Conference game inside of Puckett Field House.
With the victory, the Eagles improve to 15-10 overall and 12-9 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play. With the loss, Clarke University falls to 9-15 overall and 7-13 in The Heart.
Wednesday's match-up between the Crusaders and Eagles did not disappoint one bit. The two squads met back on January 4th in Iowa, with Clarke claiming a slim 83-81 victory. Wednesday evening, the script was flipped; as CMU used their homecourt to their advantage and claimed a two-point win, 80-78.
Clarke and Central stuck neck-and-neck with one another all night. At halftime, CMU led by just one point; at 35-34. That one point lead was huge for CMU, seeing as how the Eagles trailed Clarke 27-11 at the 9:11 mark in the first half. Central would finish the half on a 24-7 run to claim a one point lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Crusaders and Eagles play tight the entire 20 minutes. Bo Burkhart (JR/Evansville, Ind.) came up big for CMU in the clutch. Burkhart hit a big three-pointer with a little over two minutes left in the game to give CMU a 74-71 lead. Then Burkhart would put the game out of reach for Clarke with nine seconds left in the game, when he knocked down two free-throws to give CMU a 80-77 lead. Clarke University would make one more push, as they got fouled and made one of two free-throws. After missing the second attempt on purpose, they were unable to capitalize and fell to Central.
In the win, four Eagles finished in double-figure scoring. Cole Adair (SR/Fishers, Ind.) led CMU with 27 points, eight rebounds, five assists, four steals, and one block.
The Eagles will now hit the road for three straight games, beginning this Saturday at rival Missouri Valley College. The Eagle women will get things started at 2pm, with the men's game to follow at 4pm.
For more information about Central Methodist University athletics, visit http://www.cmueagles.com. Follow CMU athletics on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cmathletics and on Twitter twitter.com/cmueagles.
