Men's Basketball Season Ends in Heartbreak After WHAC Tourney Loss at Aquinas

(Grand Rapids, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar men's basketball team led for most of the game, but were unable to make the plays down the stretch to secure their first WHAC tournament win, as they fell to the 8-seed Aquinas Saints 74-66 Tuesday evening.

Cleary started the game on fire, and built a double-digit lead in the first six minutes of game action.  Jacob Mueller would hit a jumper to score the Cougars' first points, and a steal and a layup from Jaylen Cole-Williams would give the Cougars the lead.  Cole-Williams would hit a three, followed by a Jacob Mueller layup, a Chris Williams jumper, and a Tyree Jones jumper.  Tyree Jones would get another post touch basket, and on Cleary's next defensive possession, Jacob Mueller stole the ball and slammed it home to give Cleary a 17-6 lead.  The Saints cut the Cougar lead to six, but Cleary's size advantage inside helped give the Cougars a comfortable lead.  Aquinas would once again go on a run, this time cutting the Cleary lead to three points, but Tyree Jones hit a three to stop the run.  After Bennie Crenshaw Jr. hit a three, Cleary's lead was back to seven points with seven minutes to play in the half.  The teams traded points the rest of the way, and Cleary led at the half 44-38.

Chris Williams started the second half with a pair of free throw makes to give the Cougars an eight point lead once again.  Aquinas answered with a run, and with the Cougars leading by three points, Chris Williams hit back to back baskets to extend Cleary's lead to 50-43.  Leading by three with ten minutes to play, Chaz Cobbs Jr. made a jumper to make it a five point game.  The Saints would cut the lead to three points, but Cleary had an answer again when AJ Hess hit a three to make it a six point game with 5:30 left in the action.  After a Chris Williams layup with 2:55 to play, the Cougar lead was seven points.  The Saints would then get hot from behind the arc, and hit three consecutive three pointers to take a two point lead with 1:15 to play.  On Cleary's next possession, Jacob Mueller got the ball inside, and attempted a reverse layup that was off the mark.  When Aquinas got the defensive rebound, Cleary was forced to foul, and Aquinas would hit their free throws down the stretch to hand the Cougars a 74-66 defeat.

Cleary had three players score 17 points to lead the way.  Chris Williams had 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Jacob Mueller and Tyree Jones each had 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

Aquinas hit 11 three pointers to Cleary's 4 in the game, and the Saints made 15-18 free throws to Cleary's 6-8.

Cleary ends the season with an 8-19 record overall.