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ETTRICK, Va. - The West Chester men's basketball team made history on Saturday afternoon, as the No. 6-seeded Golden Rams defeated third seed Wheeling Jesuit 82-77 in the opening game of the NCAA Atlantic Regional to give WCU its first NCAA Tournament victory in program history.
The Golden Rams entered Saturday's game with a 0-9 record all-time in the NCAA Tournament dating back to 1983, while the Cardinals were making their third-straight tournament appearance, highlighted by an NCAA Elite Eight two years ago and a showing in the Atlantic Regional finale last season.
With the postseason pedigree and Mountain East Conference (MEC) Player of the Year Haywood Highsmith on its side, Wheeling Jesuit appeared to be the easy favorite on paper – luckily for West Chester though, basketball games are played on the hardwood and not on loose leaf.
Trailing by five at the half, the Golden Rams strung together a 10-0 run midway through the second half to grab the 62-55 advantage with just over 10 minutes remaining. Highsmith the Cardinals stormed back to trim the deficit to just two points (77-75) with a minute to play and forced WCU to put the ball into the hands of its closer – junior
Matt Penecale (Jenkintown, Pa. / Abington). As he has for the Golden Rams throughout his three seasons, Penecale came through once again on Saturday. The guard banked in a long triple as the shot clock expired to put the Golden Rams up five (80-75) with 19 second to play – and following two Wheeling Jesuit free throws – Penecale dropped in back-to-back free throws in the waning moments of the game to seal the historic 82-77 victory for West Chester on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Rams held the advantage in nearly every major statistical category on Saturday; including rebounds (45-41), assists (16-11), bench points (21-15) and points in the paint (34-26), while West Chester recorded a season-high seven blocks against the Cardinals' six rejections. The most glaring statistic of Saturday's game was the foul column, as the Golden Rams finished with 29 team fouls (Cardinals – 15) and saw two players foul out of the contest and four other individuals end the day with four total fouls. Although hampered with foul trouble for the majority of the game, Head Coach
Damien Blair was able to call upon different players to step up and each of them answered the call, led by some gutsy play by big men sophomore
Tim Toro (Scranton, Pa. / Abington Heights) and junior
Miko Jenkins (Harrisburg, Pa. / Steel). Tasked with stopping one of the best players in the country, both Toro and Jenkins came up huge throughout the game with thunderous blocks and clutch baskets to help the Golden Rams keep pace while their star players either rested or had to sit out due to foul trouble. Even though their numbers might not jump off the page, it was the play of West Chester's reserve unit that really pushed the team over the hump in Saturday's game.
Overall, junior
Jackson Hyland (
Avondale, Pa. / Kennett) led the Golden Rams with 20 points and eight rebounds in the win, while Penecale finished 1with 3 points on Saturday, including the five biggest points of the day down the stretch. Senior
Tyrell Long (Philadelphia, Pa. / Bishop McDevit) tacked on 11 points and six rebounds against the Cardinals and Toro ended the day with 10 points and two blocks at the five position.
The Cardinals' Highsmith ended the game with 25 points and 13 rebounds to get his nation-leading 29
th double-double in his final collegiate basketball game.
West Chester returns to the VSU Multipurpose Center tomorrow, March 11, to play the winner of today's the East Stroudsburg and Gannon game at 5:00 p.m.
Photo Gallery - https://bit.ly/2slZOQn
Head Coach Damien Blair's Postgame Remarks
