Penecale Hits Buzzer-Beater To Push WCU Into PSAC Championship Game

Box Score  
WEST CHESTER, Pa. – With 5.2 seconds left in overtime, freshman Matt Penecale (Jenkintown, Pa./Abington) dribbled the length of the court and let fly a floater that hit nothing but the bottom of the net as time expired, giving host West Chester a 90-89 overtime win against visiting Indiana (Pa.) in the PSAC semifinals inside Hollinger Field House Saturday afternoon.

The Crimson Hawks took the lead after a step-back jumper by senior guard Brandon Norfleet. However, West Chester (23-5) was not finished as Matt Wiseley (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) inbounded the ball to Penecale. Without calling a timeout, Penecale dribbled the length of the court, going behind his back with a dribble on the baseline, and falling out of bounds as he let the shot go.

Penecale led the team on a comeback from a margin as big as 18 points in the first half to survive and advance. Penecale matched his career high with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting. These two schools are not strangers to last minute buzzer-beaters as both faced each other in the 2012 PSAC semifinals where former Golden Rams' guard Jon Breeden with the game knotted up at 51-51, dribbled the ball up to the top of the arc and took a glance at the sidelines, before drilling a 3-pointer to lift WCU over IUP by a score of 54-51.
 
The Golden Ram's advance to tomorrow's PSAC Championship Game for the fifth time in school history and are looking for their second conference championship overall, but first since the conference went to a postseason tournament. They will play the Wests' No. 1 seed, Mercyhurst, tomorrow at 3 p.m. after the Lakers defeated Shippensburg, 79-68, in the earlier game.

Wiseley registered his 12th double-double of the season, scoring 14 points and leading all players with 19 rebounds.
 
Avery Brown (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) poured in 15 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Guard Malik Jackson (Lansdowne, Pa./Penn Wood) added 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Thomas White (Chester, Pa./Penn Wood) came up huge off the bench imputting 11 points from inside the paint while Tyrell Long (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) recorded 10 points in the victory.

Senior Mike Wilson (Philadelphia, Pa./Martin Luther King) went up for a rebound and was fouled, allowing him to walk the length of the court to convert on two free throws, giving  his team a 86-85 lead after the Golden Rams' found down early by six in the overtime period. Then a miss layup set the Crimson Hawks on the fast break for a layup on the other end. This would give WCU a chance to go by one or two with 1.9 seconds separating the shot clock and regain the lead once again.
 
Crimson Hawks' Norfleet led all scorers with 32 points on the night, to go with eight rebounds, four steals, and three assists. Dante Lombardi followed up with 16 points, while Branden Spain added 10. Forward Jacobo Diaz captured a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in the loss.
 
The red and black shot 63 percent from the field, including a 50-percent stretch from 3-point range in the first half to go into break up double-digits (11). WCU had been in this situation earlier in the week, going into halftime down by nine to East Stroudsburg, but that did not stop them from making a  comeback in the quarterfinals for an 81-73 win.
 
Now West Chester heads to take on the No. 1 defensive team in the nation as Mercyhurst has held opponents to only 58.9 points per-game.