No. 24 West Chester Drops NCAA First Round Contest To Kutztown, 76-63

Box Score

WHEELING, W.Va. – Fr., G Matt Penecale (Jenkintown, Pa./Abington) scored 15 points, but it was not enough to overcome PSAC rival Kutztown in the first round of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament Atlantic Regional Saturday night inside the McDonough Center.
 
West Chester (23-7), the No. 5 seed, never got on track from the field and missed all 15 of its 3-point attempts in the game while fourth-seeded Kutztown (22-6) advances to the Atlantic Region semifinal on Sunday against Mercyhurst, who upset top-seeded Wheeling Jesuit, with a 76-63 victory.
 
"I thought (Kutztown) outplayed us," West Chester head coach Damien Blair said afterwards. "We didn't share the ball well, and we didn't run our offense well. They played harder than us."
 
The Golden Rams ended up shooting 31.3 percent (20-for-64) from the field for the game, and committed 21 turnovers, but just never could recover from early foul trouble either. All three seniors fouled out of their final college basketball games.
 
Matt Wiseley (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) pulled down 19 rebounds in the loss and finished just two points shy of another double-double this winter. Tyrell Long (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) finished with a double-double, however. He scored 14 points and pulled down 10 boards for himself.
 
"Wiseley has taken this program to a different level," Blair commented. "He is an unbelievable leader."
 
Wiseley ends his four-year career with 785 points and 854 rebounds. He ranks fourth all-time at West Chester in career rebounds and seventh all-time in school history with 148 steals.
 
NOTES: West Chester falls to 0-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament … this marked the eighth time the Golden Rams had reached the national tournament (in 1983 there was a consolation game played) … West Chester and Kutztown faced off in the NCAAs for the first time … WCU head coach Damien Blair is 0-2 in his two trips to the NCAAs … WCU also reached the NCAAs under Blair in 2014 … Fr., Matt Penecale set a freshman record for assists in a single season (143) … that number ranks fifth overall in a single season in West Chester basketball history and are the most since Joe Meade had 152 in 2000-01.