Undefeated Record On The Line As No. 14 West Chester Hosts Two PSAC Opponents

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - No. 14-ranked West Chester University men's basketball is 9-0 as it prepares to welcome California University of Pennsylvania and Slippery Rock University to Hollinger Field House at 7:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday.
 
"I did not expect to win our first nine," West Chester head coach Damien Blair told Matt Leon of KYW Newsradio. "We had six seniors last year. We lost our all-time assist leader and a PSAC Defensive Player of the Year. We have good leadership from our guys that were on last year's team."
 
The Golden Rams are ranked 14th in the country for the first time since Jan. 16, 2018. West Chester had its best start in program history in 2017-18, winning its first 12 games and jumping out to a 15-1 record to begin the season. WCU was ranked as high as ninth that year, which was the team's second-highest national ranking ever behind being tied for sixth on Jan. 17, 1983.
 
Freshman Robbie Heath (Whittlesea, Australia / Abington) has played a pivotal role in West Chester's hot start. He's first among Division II freshman across the country at 24.0 points per game and second among freshman across all levels of NCAA basketball. Heath also leads the Golden Rams at 7.7 rebounds per contest.
 
"(Robbie) is an unorthodox scorer," Blair said. "When you look at the stat sheet at the end of the game, you're shocked by the numbers he puts up. When you have a kid that can score at a high clip like that, it kind of makes your life easy as a coach."
 
Senior guard Malik Jackson (Lansdowne, Pa. / Penn Wood) is second on the Golden Rams at 16.9 points per game, and he has climbed five spots to No. 9 on West Chester's all-time scoring list with 1,479 points. With 248 threes made, Jackson is second in school history and 69 away from tying Blair for the school record.
 
In its last game, West Chester overcame a nine-point deficit with five minutes remaining to beat Mercyhurst 83-80 in overtime. Senior Tim Toro (Scranton, Pa. / Abington Heights) posted his second career double-double in the win with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Heath had WCU's first 20-20 game since 2008 with 28 points and 20 rebounds.

"The guys have done a fantastic job of accepting constructive criticism and then trying to apply those techniques and skills we give them in practice in the games," Blair said.
 
Blair enters the weekend 100 games over .500 in his college head coaching career at 212-112. His entire 12-year college coaching career has been at West Chester.
 
The Golden Rams face a Vulcans team on Friday night that has a 6-3 record, and The Rock are currently 5-4.

PARKING MAP - Sharpless Street Garage will be the best option, and it becomes free 90 minutes prior to game time and remains open well after the men's game ends. The men's game begins at 7:30 p.m.