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WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Wednesday's matchup between the No. 18 West Chester University men's basketball at East Stroudsburg inside the Hollinger Field House pitted two of the best defensive units in NCAA DII against each other. On one side, the Golden Rams'.403 field-goal percentage defense was the 17th best mark in country, while the Warriors entered Wednesday's game as the No. 1 turnover-creating team in the country with 24.4/takeaways per game.
With such stout defenses going head-to-head, it was no surprise that a defensive play took center stage on Wednesday. Trailing by two, East Stroudsburg had a chance to either tie or win the game with under ten seconds to play. Nick Giordano stole the ball and passed it ahead to Kitt Najee Walls and it appeared ESU hand a clear path to the hoop. However, as Walls elevated to the rack, he was met at the top of his jump by WCU's
Frank Rokins (Plainfield, N.J. / St. Mary's) - who managed to chase-down Walls and get the rejection as time expired to give the Golden Rams the hard-fought 76-74 victory in thrilling fashion.
The win puts West Chester at 15-1 on the year and 11-1 in conference games. On the flip side, ESU drops to 11-4 overall and 8-3 in league contests following the loss.
The Golden Rams started the game trailing 19-14, before orchestrating a massive 18-0 run to put the home team up 32-19 with just under five to play. Following a triple by
Steve Smith (Ambler, Pa. / La Salle) the Warriors answered back with a 10-5 spurt to close out the first half and bring the score to 37-35 in favor of the Golden Rams.
With the score knotted at 47-47 in the second half,
Matt Penecale (Jenkintown, Pa. / Abington) scored West Chester's next five points on his own to give the home team the slim 52-47 advantage with 14:43 to play. Following a small 4-1 run by the Warriors, Rokins responded with a 6-0 run of his own to extend the Golden Rams' lead to 59-51 at the 11:02 mark. West Chester managed to build a lead as many as 13 points over the next handful of minutes, but its cushion was nearly erased after a layup by ESU's Ryan Krawczeniuk with 1:09 to play brought the visitors within just two points (74-22).
Tyrell Long (Philadelphia, Pa. / Bishop McDevitt) connected on a tough layup underneath to put WCU up by four (76-72), before Walls' layup brought East Stroudsburg within a single bucket at 76-74 with just 28 seconds remaining. The Golden Rams had a chance to ice the game but a costly turnover late gave the visitors the ball and a chance to steal a victory with under 10 seconds to play in the game. The Warriors' Walls had nothing but daylight in front of him as he raced down court, but it was not what was in front of him that he needed to worry about. As he elevated to the rim, Walls was met with a thunderous block by Rokins who managed to catch Walls despite being well beyond half court. After Rokins tossed away Walls' shot, the ball landed in the hands of Tim Toro who let the clock wind down to 00:00.
Long's 22 points on Wednesday led all scorers and his nine rebounds against ESU were the most for the Golden Rams. Rokins added 13 points and one massive rejection in 27 minutes, while Penecale chipped in 11 points, six rebounds and a game-high seven assists in the win.
East Stroudsburg's Steve Harris notched a double-double in the loss – putting up 10 points and a game-high 11 boards to go along with four blocks in the loss.
VIDEO: Frank Rokins' Block
