Vaughns looking good as starting guard at Clarion
CALIFORNIA – Millersville must have gone home thankful Saturday that Clarion didn’t have a whole team of Terrance Vaughns on the floor against them. On the other hand, Clarion coach Dr. Ron Righter would have been thankful if he did have five of a kind.
Millersville took a nine-point lead at the start of the game and never looked back, leading from wire-to-wire in a 79-54 win over Clarion in one semifinal PSAC basketball game at California University of Pa.’s Hamer Hall gym.
The win moved Millersville into today’s state championship game against the host Vulcans, who edged West Chester, 62-60, right at the final buzzer. The opening tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
The closest Clarion got in the first half was four (11-7, on a Vaughns’ 3-pointer at 14:47) with the Marauders up by 14 at the half, 46-32. That was as close as Clarion would get the rest of the game, as West Chester led by anywhere up to 35 points (69-34 midway in the second half).
What hurt the Eagles was a scoring blank they drew to start the second half. Millersville led 46-32 to start the second half and widened that to 61-32 before Clarion scored – a deficit of 7:34 without a point. Their first goal of the half didn’t come until 9:35 remained, a 10:25 run, over half of the half, without a basket.
Vaughns, a Clarion freshman 6-0 guard from Uniontown, moved into the starting lineup in his first year of collegiate competition, and his coach said after this game, “I wish I had a whole team like him. He came into a very tough league and he became a stellar player. He also rebounds very well for a guard.”
Vaughns has also had to make some adjustments from high school to college basketball, and as he said, “The defenses were a big adjustment for me. In high school I was able to offset defenses by being quick, but in college they are big and quick both.”
Offensively, Vaughns has had “to adjust to bigger players. Again, in high school, I could move around them, but in college they are bigger, stronger, and they tend to block you out very well.”
One big help to Vaughns was noted by his coach, who said, “Terrance has had to make the adjustments he spoke of, but a big help to him in this respect is that he is very good in the classroom and that in turn has helped him adjust to changes he has had to make. He is one of the future leaders of this team.”
That was a little evident Saturday when during a timeout he was seen talking to his teammates, and when asked later what he told them, Vaughns smiled and said, “I just told them that we weren’t out of the game yet, so let’s get moving. I reminded them we had been down before by margins up to 20 points and came back.”
Righter said of the loss, “It will take a great effort to beat Millersville. They are one of the better teams, from top to bottom, that I have seen since I began coaching here. Their defense takes you right out of the game, and their strength, ability, unselfishness, and execution are all great.”
Vaughns was Clarion’s scoring leader with 13, including three 3-point goals, plus a team high six rebounds. Rollie Smith was next with 12 points. Gerald Redding led Clarion with 21 points, Michah Davenport had 12, Daron Pressley 11, and Toochi Udeinya 10, plus a game high 13 boards.
Vaughns said, “I feel I have met my expectations here. When I came to Clarion, I wanted to make the team, and now I feel that I have helped my team. I have a lot to learn yet, but we are all working on that.”
With his example to follow, the Eagles and their coach might just yet get that five of a kind.