Box Score
WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Lance McDowell scored 23 of his team-high 25 points in the second half to lead host West Chester University to its seventh straight win with an 76-55 victory over visiting Cheyney in a PSAC men’s basketball contest inside Hollinger Field House Wednesday evening.
West Chester (16-9, 13-8 PSAC) has now won 10 of its last 11 while its seven-game win streak is the longest current streak of success in the conference. Cheyney (4-21, 3-18) was led by Jason Sabb’s game-best 28 points.
The Golden Rams currently sit one game behind both Bloomsburg and Kutztown, who are tied for first place in the Eastern Division standings, heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale at Mansfield. West Chester needs to beat Mansfield on Saturday and hope for a Millersville upset over Bloomsburg on the road to pull into a tie for second place with the Huskies. That scenario would give the Rams the second seed in the PSAC Tournament and a home game in the quarterfinal round. WCU holds the tie-breaker over Bloomsburg by virtue of its sweep of the regular-season series.
McDowell went over the 20-point mark for the fifth time this season by scoring just over half of West Chester’s points after halftime. He added seven rebounds to his line score Wednesday. The win marked the first season sweep for the Rams over the Wolves since the 2005-06 campaign. West Chester’s two wins against Cheyney this year were by a combined margin of 51 points – the largest such margin by the Golden Rams in the history of the series.
West Chester’s current seven-game win streak is the longest by the Rams since opening the 2009-10 campaign with nine straight victories.
Carl Johnson added 13 points and six rebounds while Jaleel Mack poured in 10 points off the bench and Harley Williamson led all players with a game-high 10 rebounds off the bench.
West Chester shot 43.4 percent from the floor and made 25 of 27 free throws. Cheyney shot just 18-for-65 (27.7 percent) and made just 16 of 25 free throws.
Jerrod Johnson added 10 points for the Wolves
West Chester travels to Mansfield on Saturday for the final regular-season game of the 2011-12 season. Game time is set for 3 p.m. inside Decker Gymnasium.
GAME NOTES: Lance McDowell has scored exactly 400 points this season … he now has 689 points in 50 games during his West Chester career … the 50 games played now makes him eligible to appear on the all-time career scoring average chart … he ranks 10th all-time at WCU in points per game with an average of 13.8 points per game … McDowell is the first Golden Rams player to reach 400 points in a single season since Ralph Hegamin in 2009-10
