Feb 20, 2005 By Rob Burchianti 3 min read

CALIFORNIA – Terrance Vaughns picked the perfect time to play his best game to date against California University of Pa. The Uniontown graduate poured in 25 points as Clarion easily defeated the Vulcans 72-49 at Hamer Hall on Saturday night, extinguishing Cal’s hopes of qualifying for the PSAC men’s basketball tournament, while keeping the Golden Eagles (18-7, 7-3) in the race for the PSAC-West title.

Clarion entered the game one game in back of first-place Edinboro, but is now tied atop the standings after the Fighting Scots were stunned at last-place Lock Haven. The Eagles travel to Edinboro on Wednesday.

The Vulcans fell to 13-12 overall and 3-7 in the conference in being swept by the Eagles for the second time in three years. Cal swept three games against Clarion last season, though, including a win in the PSAC tournament.

“They were the ones who put us out last year,” Vaughns said, “so we knew going into tonight that we could knock them out with a win tonight.”

Vaughns had plenty to do with eliminating the Vulcans.

“I honestly felt going in that I was going to have a good game,” Vaughns said. “You get this certain feeling before a game, and I had it tonight.”

In six previous games against California, Vaughns hit double figures only three times with a high of 14 points in last year’s 68-58 PSAC tournament loss. He did nail a couple of key 3-pointers on his way to 11 points in the Eagles’ 62-50 win at Clarion earlier this season.

On Saturday, Vaughns hit five of nine shots in the first half, including three of seven 3-pointers, in scoring 14 points to help Clarion build a 28-23 lead. He was seven of 12 from the field and four of nine on 3-pointers for the game, and made seven of nine free throws.

“We wanted to establish ourselves early and that’s what we did,” Vaughns said. “We didn’t play a perfect game tonight, but far. We still have a lot to work on.”

Ryan Wells made one of two free throws 42 seconds into the game and the Eagles led the rest of the way.

Wells, whose father, Reggie Wells, is Clarion’s second all-time leading scorer with 2,011 points, tallied 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Eagles.

The Vulcans pulled within four twice in the second half, but could get no closer.

Kelvin Green was the only player to hit double digits in scoring for Cal with a game-high 26 points, while teammate Boris Mesnager took top rebounding honors with 12.

As usual, Vaughns did much more than score for the Eagles. He contributed five steals, five rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot in playing all 40 minutes. He committed just one turnover.

Vaughns has made it a point to step up his game in the wake of three key Clarion injuries as Michael Clarke, Justin Collins and Maurice Madden have all gone down.

“As a leader, I should’ve tried to step up a lot earlier,” Vaughns said. “Our bench has been tremendous. I compare us to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The second team is as good as the first team.”

Clarion held its own with the bigger Vulcans on the boards with each team grabbing 32 rebounds.

“We may be the smallest team in the league, but we have the biggest heart,” said Clarion coach Ron Righter, who picked up his 300th career coaching victory earlier this season.

Chris Buchanan scored 11 points and pulled down six boards for Clarion.

Frazier graduate Guillaume Beyl saw 16 minutes of playing time for California and had one steal and one assist.

The Vulcans travel to Shippensburg on Wednesday.