WEST LIBERTY, W.V – Looking to bounce back from last night's season-opening loss to West Virginia Wesleyan, the West Chester University men's basketball team returned to the Academic Sports & Recreation Complex on Saturday afternoon to square off against No. 2 West Liberty University in the final game of the 2018 MEC/PSAC Challenge. The Golden Rams got a combined 47 points from senior
Jackson Hyland (AVONDALE, PA./KENNETT) and junior
Malik Jackson (LANSDOWNE, PA./PENN WOOD) on the night, but the host Hilltoppers (1-1) – fresh off a loss to start the season against Kutztown yesterday – proved too much in a 94-80 defeat of West Chester (0-2) to end the cross-conference tournament.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- WLU got on the board first following a triple from Luke Dyer to start the game and the home team was able to remain in front from that point forward.
- With the Hilltoppers in front 41-26, Hyland used the last two minutes of the opening half to score six-answered points and bring the Golden Rams within nine (41-32) heading into the locker rooms.
- The home team was able to balloon their advantage to as many as 20 points in the second stanza and the cushion stayed at 10+ for the final 15 minutes of action. Down 17, a triple by sophomore Evan-Eric Longino (FURLONG, PA./GERMANTOWN ACADEMY) ended the game to bring the final score to 94-80 in favor of the Hilltoppers.
WEST CHESTER RUNDOWN
- Hyland's 27 points led all scorers on Saturday evening and the total marked the second highest scoring output for the senior over the last two seasons.
- Playing in just his second game since the 2016-17 season, Jackson poured in 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field on Saturday night.
- Senior Frank Rokins (PLAINFIELD, N.J./ST. MARY'S) and junior Tim Toro (SCRANTON, PA. /ABINGTON HEIGHTS) both finished the contest with seven points, while Toro also added a team-high eight rebounds in 29 minutes.
- Off the bench, Longino's eight points made up half of WCU's total bench output on the day and sophomore Jawan Collins' (YEADON, PA./ACADEMY PARK) three total assists off the bench were both a team high and 1/3 of the Golden Rams' nine helpers on the evening.
HILLTOPPER HIGHLIGHTS
- West Liberty connected on 32-of-60 (53%) shots from the floor and 12-of-27 (44%) attempts from beyond the arc in the win.
- The Hilltoppers held a sizeable 37-16 advantage in bench scoring, led by 10 points each from Brady Arnold and Marlon Moore Jr.
- Dalton Bolon's 26 points (7-of-14) paced three WLU players in double figures.
UP NEXT
- The Golden Rams will look to earn their first victory of the 2018-19 campaign when the squad hosts Chestnut Hill inside the Hollinger Field House on Thursday (November 15) at 7:00 p.m.
