Box Score WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Fr.,
Matt Penecale (Jenkintown, Pa./Abington) made the best out of his first playoff game in his college career, pouring in a career-high 18 points to lead West Chester past PSAC East rival East Stroudsburg 81-73 in the quarterfinals of the PSAC Tournament inside Hollinger Field House Tuesday night.
West Chester (22-5), the second seed out of the Eastern Division, advances to the semifinals of the conference tournament while avenging two regular-season losses to East Stroudsburg (21-7) and ending a personal seven-game losing streak to the Warrriors.
The Golden Rams will host the 2016 PSAC Tournament championship weekend at Hollinger Field House thanks to Shippensburg's upset over top-seed and regular-season PSAC East Division champion Kutztown Tuesday. West Chester will play Indiana (Pa.) on Saturday at home at 3:30 p.m. while Mercyhurst takes on Shippensburg at 1 p.m. The 2016 PSAC Men's Basketball Championship Game will be played on Sunday at 3 p.m. between the two semifinal winners.
The Golden Rams find themselves in a rematch of the 2012 PSAC Semifinals at Hollinger Field House. WCU upset the No. 7-ranked team in the country in the Kovalcheck Center back in November. The Rams went into halftime down only single digits to a team that had averaged a 16.5 point margin over them in their last two regular-season games. East Stroudsburg increased the lead to its largest of the night at 11, three minutes into the second half.
Trailing by 11 just three minutes into the second half, West Chester went on an 18-7 run over the next five minutes to tie the game at 54-all. The teams battled back-and-forth until Penecale hit a pair of free throws at the midway point of the second half that put the Golden Rams in front for good, 60-59.
The hosts went on an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to extend their lead to double digits (71-61) with 6:28 to go. Tyrell Long hit a 3-pointer in the spurt – the only basket from the field during the run – while the Golden Rams went 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Long had five of his six points in the game during that time.
Freshman guard
Malik Jackson (Lansdowne, Pa./Penn Wood) finished second in scoring with 14 points for the Golden Rams. Senior guard
Avery Brown (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) added 13 points, shooting 4-for-9 from the field, including back-to-back 3-point swishes to bring his team within three (60-57).
Forward
Matt Wiseley (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus), despite being limited with two early fouls in the first half, rejuvenated for the second half grabbing 13 rebounds for a game-high 17 rebounds, while adding nine points.
Warriors' Quindell Price led the team with 16 points off the bench on 6 of 13 shooting in the loss. Forward Steve Harris added 12 points, while Rasheed Moore captured 12 rebounds and nine points.
Notes: West Chester improves to 14-17 all-time in the PSAC Tournament and 6-4 under head coach Damien Blair … West Chester improves to 3-2 against East Stroudsburg in the PSAC Tournament … incidently, all three postseason wins in the conference tournament have come in the quarterfinal round … West Chester improves to 9-8 in the quarterfinals of the PSAC Tournament and advance to its 10th conference semifinals … Sr., F Matt Wiseley eclipsed 800 rebounds in his college career Tuesday night.
KEY Stat = 3pt Shooting: WCU 40.0% (10-for-15) ESU 13.3% (2-for-15)
