West Chester Sinks Clarion on Sunday, 91-84

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CLARION, Pa. - Riding the momentum of a 52-44 victory over Gannon University yesterday, the West Chester University men's basketball team returned to the court on Sunday evening to square off against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (SSAC) foe Clarion University inside the Tippin Gymnasium.
 
Entering Sunday's game at 3-0, the Golden Rams looked to win its fourth-straight game and improve to 2-0 in conference play with a win over the Golden Eagles. Conversely, Clarion returned to its home court on Sunday at 2-2 on the year and coming off a lopsided 113-71 defeat against East Stroudsburg on Saturday night.
 
Sunday's conference matchup saw two of the best teams in the PSAC on either side of the ball going head-to-head in Clarion. Putting up 95.0 points per game, the Golden Eagles entered Sunday touting the No. 2 scoring offense in the PSAC, while West Chester came to the Tippin Gymnasium featuring one of the top defenses in the entire NCAA DII – holding its opponents to just a 0.351 shooting percentage from the floor.
 
Although defense has been the Golden Rams calling card throughout the early parts of the 2017-18 season, it would be the West Chester offensive unit that took center stage against Clarion. Led by a huge 30-point performance by Tyrell Long (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt), the Golden Rams downed the Golden Eagles on Sunday 91-84 to improve to 4-0 on the season behind a 2-0 mark in PSAC action.
 
With the score knotted at 10-10 in the first half, Clarion strung together eight-unanswered points to go up 18-10 with 12:43 to play in the opening frame. Down 21-26, the duo of Long and Steve Smith (Ambler, Pa./La Salle) combined to score the next 10 points of the game to put the visitors on top 24-21 with just over nine minutes remaining. West Chester managed to hold the lead for the next four minutes, until a free throw from Clarion's Maqi Watson squared the game up again at 30-30. The Golden Rams slowly began to take control of the game in the waning moments of the first half – pushing its advantage to as many as 13 points (48-35) following a free throw by Long with 15 seconds to play. Despite being down eight to start the half, West Chester ended the frame by outscoring the home team 18-7 over the last five minutes of action to take the 48-37 advantage into the second half.
 
The Golden Rams steadily built on its cushion throughout the early parts of the second half and managed to extend its lead to as many as two points on two separate occasions. Things got a little tight around the midway point of the half after a triple by Mraz cut the Clarion deficit to just six (69-63) with just over eight minutes to play in regulation. Down 88-75, the Golden Eagles orchestrated a 9-2 spurt to cut the West Chester advantage down to six (90-84) with just six seconds to play. Clarion had no choice but to foul in the final few seconds and send Matt Penecale (Jenkintown, Pa./Abington) to the line for two free throws with four seconds to play. Penecale hit the second of his two free throws to ice the game and give West Chester the 91-84 victory on the road.
 
Long's 30 points on Sunday led all scorers and his seven rebounds were the most for the Golden Rams in the win. Jackson Hyland (Avondale, Pa./Kennett) poured in 22 points against Clarion, while Frank Rokins (Plainfield, N.J./St. Mary's) added 12 points and six boards to go along with a team-high five assists on Sunday.
 
Mraz's 21 points off the bench paced the Golden Eagles offense, while Cameron Grumley contributed 20 points, five rebounds and a team-high four steals in the loss.