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WEST CHESTER, Pa. - After playing its first three "home" games to start the season at Widener University due to venue renovations, the West Chester University men's basketball made its triumphant return to the Hollinger Field House on Saturday afternoon to welcome Indiana University of Pennsylvania to campus for a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) showdown.
Entering the game at 5-0, the Golden Rams sat atop the PSAC standings behind a perfect 2-0 mark in league play, while the visiting Crimson Hawks came to West Chester with a 5-3 record on the year behind an unblemished 2-0 start in league play.
If West Chester hoped to be successful against the visiting Crimson Hawks, Head Coach Damien Blair's squad would need some big performances from their leaders on offense, while also slowing down IUP's Jacobo Diaz – the reigning PSAC West Athlete of the Year. Offensively, Senior
Tyrell Long (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) and junior
Jackson Hyland (Avondale, Pa./Kennett) answered the call for the Golden Rams by combining for 52 points on 17-of-27 shooting, while West Chester held Diaz to just four points in 26 minutes, which allowed West Chester to open play at Hollinger with a huge 93-78 victory on Saturday evening.
Long started the game with a triple to put the home team up 3-0, before IUP answered with an 11-2 run over the next five minutes to grab the 11-5 advantage in the opening frame. The Golden Rams responded by connecting on their next six free throws from the line – along with a three-pointer from
Steve Smith (Ambler, Pa./La Salle) – to trim the deficit to just two (16-14) with 12 minutes remaining. With The Crimson Hawks holding onto a six-point cushion with 3:44 to play, Hyland converted an and-1 to bring West Chester within a single point at 32-31, before
Frank Rokins (Plainfield, N.J./St. Mary's) would knot the contest at 32-32 after making the front end of two free throws. With the score tied at 34-34, Hyland scored the next four points of the game in transition, highlighted by a huge slam, to put West Chester up 38-34 (first lead since beginning of game) with under a minute to go before the half. The frame ended with two free throws by Long to bring the score to 40-34 in favor of the Golden Rams, capping off a half that saw the home team convert on an eye-popping16-of-17 shots the charity stripe.
IUP kicked off the second half with two buckets, but the Golden Rams hit back with a 6-0 spurt to give the squad its biggest lead of the game at 48-38 with just around 18 minutes to play. The Crimson Hawks showed some life midway through the stanza after cutting the deficit to seven (58-51), but the seven-point hole would prove to be the closest the visitors would get for the remainder of the night. West Chester was able to rebuild itself a double-digit lead over the waning moments – a lead that was as large as 19 points down the stretch – and a jumper by guard
Matt Penecale (Jenkintown, Pa./Abington) would cap off the outing to give the Golden Rams the 93-78 victory to improve to 6-0 on the year and 3-0 in conference action.
Hyland and Long put up nearly identical numbers in Saturday's victory, with both recording 26 points and eight rebounds, with Hyland also adding four assists. Penecale chipped in 12 points and a team-high five helpers against the Crimson Hawks, while Rokins logged another double-double after putting up 11 points and 11 boards in 34 minutes played.
As a team, West Chester shot 31-of-62 (50%) from the floor and 50% (7-of-14) from beyond the arc on Saturday, while converting an impressive 24-of-26 (92%) of its shots from the charity stripe.
Anthony Glover paced the IUP with 25 points and Willem Brandwijk grabbed a team-high 10 boards to go along with eight points in the loss.
