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MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Junior guard
Matt Penecale (Jenkintown, Pa. / Abington) saved his lone bucket of the night for when it mattered the most. With the score between No. 23 West Chester University and Millersville University knotted at 73-73 with under five seconds remaining, the Golden Rams' lead guard dropped in a fadeaway jumper over his opposite shoulder to propel nationally ranked West Chester past the Marauders 75-73 on Wednesday evening.
Wednesday's last-second victory pushes the Golden Rams to 11-0 on the season ands add another consecutive win to their already historic start. West Chester also jumps up to 7-0 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) games on the year to continue as the lone undefeated conference representative. The Golden Rams' road victory marks the 10th over Millersville in their last 11 meetings and brings Head Coach Damien Blair's career record against the Marauders to an impressive 14-6 overall.
The Golden Rams trailed by one early in the first half but that deficit was quickly erased. With the score 2-1 in favor of the home team, it took West Chester less than two minutes to grab the lead for good following a layup by
Frank Rokins (Plainfield, N.J. / St. Mary's) at the 16:27 mark. Millersville managed to keep it close for the majority of the opening frame, until a triple by
Jackson Hyland (Avondale, Pa. / Kennett) pushed the visitor's lead to a game-high 13 points (24-11) with just under 11 minutes remaining in the first stanza. The Marauders were able to cut the deficit down to six points in the waning moments of the half and following two late free throws by Steve Smith, Millersville's Jordan Greene connected on a single shot from the charity stripe to bring the first half score to 36-29 in favor of the Golden Rams.
Fueled by the stellar play of Hyland, the Golden Rams pushed their advantage to double digits on a handful of occasions in the second half, but the home team refused to go down easily. Following a free throw by
Tyrell Long (Philadelphia, Pa. / Bishop McDevitt), Millersville's Jamal Washington dropped in a layup to bring the Marauders within just two, 67-65, with 2:51 to play. West Chester was able to slowly build the cushion up to four points with just over a minute remaining, before four-straight free throws by Millersville would produce just the second tie of the game (73-73) with 23 seconds left in regulation. With the game on the line, the ball went into the hands of Penecale who has some experience with making big shots, as the Abington native famously propelled the Golden Rams into the PSAC Championship with a floater during his freshman season. Although the stakes may not have been as high on Wednesday, Penecale still delivered with a gorgeous jump shot over his defender with 2.2 on the clock to give West Chester its 11-straight victory of the season and its seventh win in conference play.
Donning a protective facemask, Hyland haunted the Marauders for 23 points on Wednesday night, marking the junior's highest scoring output in the last four games. Long chipped in 14 points in the win, while
Jawan Collins (Yeadon, Pa. / Academy Park) led the team with four assists and three steals to go along with six points and two rebounds.
As a team, West Chester shot 50% (23-of-46) from the field but struggled from beyond the arc – converting on just 3-of-11 (27%) shots from deep.
Millersville's Marcus Adkison led all scorers with 26 points, while Caden Najdawi grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in the loss.
