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WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Before the ball was even tipped inside the Hollinger Field House on Saturday, everyone in attendance knew that the West Chester University and Mercyhurst University men's basketball game was going to be a battle. Saturday's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) showdown pitted two of the top defensive teams in the league against each other, as the visiting Lakers entered the game holding opponents to conference-low 60.4 points/game, while the home Golden Rams were not far behind at 65.1 points/game.
With such stout defenses going head-to-head, it was not a surprise that the scoreboard read just 25-22 (in favor of WCU) after the first half of action. The game remained close for the majority of the second half as well, until the Golden Rams began driving to goal consistently, which left the Lakers with no choice but to foul. Holding a 5-11 advantage in second-half fouls, the home was able to convert on 12-of-16 (compared to just 2-of-2 from Mercyhurst) free throws in the second half, which led to 33-28 scoring advantage for Head Coach Damon Blair's squad. West Chester used this lopsided foul shot differential – and another strong performance by
Tyrell Long (Philadelphia, Pa. / Bishop McDevitt) – to take the hard-fought 58-50 victory on Saturday to improve to 8-0 overall behind a 5-0 mark in conference play. The Golden Rams fiery 8-0 start to the year is the second best in program history and is just one game short of tying the all-time record (9-0) that was set during the 2009-10 season.
With the score knotted at 4-4 early in the contest, West Chester strung together a 6-0 spurt – capped off by a three-pointer from
Jackson Hyland (Avondale, Pa. / Kennett) – to grab the 10-4 advantage with 16:16 remaining. The visitors managed to cut the deficit to just one (11-10) at the 11:30 mark, before a jumper by
Miko Jenkins (Harrisburg, Pa. / Steel) would spark a 5-0 run by the home team to put the Golden Rams on top 16-10 with just over seven minutes to play in the opening frame. West Chester was able to build its cushion to as many as nine points in the waning moments of the first half, but the opening stanza would end with back-to-back Laker buckets to trim the home team's advantage to just three, 25-22, heading into the locker rooms.
Mercyhurst began the second half by cutting the West Chester lead to one, but the Golden Rams quickly responded with long balls from
Evan-Eric Longino (Furlong, Pa. / Germantown Academy) and
Matt Penecale (Jenkintown, Pa. / Abington) to extend the advantage to a game-high 10 points (45-35) with under nine minutes to play. The Lakers stormed all the way back to get it within one (51-50) at the 1:59 mark, before an unlikely triple (first attempt of his career) by Jenkins would push West Chester's lead to four (54-50) with just one minute remaining. Up four, the game ended with the Golden Rams' Long knocking down four-straight foul shots to give the home team the big 58-50 victory inside its home venue.
Long paced the West Chester attack with 14 points and nine rebounds in the win, while freshman Longino added 13 points in his first appearance for the purple and gold. Hyland chipped in 12 points and six board against the Lakers and Penecale contributed 10 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's victory.
Malcolm Walters and Lorenzo Collier each had 13 points for the Lakers on Saturday and Patrick Smith notched a double-double in the loss with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
