GREENSBURG, Pa.- The West Chester men's basketball team (5-2, 0-2 PSAC) looks to get back on track on Tuesday afternoon at Seton Hill (0-7, 0-2 PSAC) following a 103-81 loss in its last game vs then No. 7 Indiana (Pa.) on December 4
th.
In need of a victory to get back on track, recent history might suggest that the Golden Rams have come to the right place, as the team is a perfect 4-0 vs the Griffins, winning the last meeting in 2018 by a convincing 92-61 final. The two teams do not have an extensive history with one another, having met just four times dating back to the 2014-15 season, but the Purple and Gold have been on the winning end of these matchups, outscoring the Griffins 334-256 over these four games.
In its last game back on December 4
th, in what was also the Golden Rams' final home game of 2021, West Chester welcomed PSAC West rival and top-10 team IUP. IUP and West Chester traded points throughout much of the early going as the game was all tied at 18-18 with 11:30 to play in the first half before the visiting Crimson Hawks closed the half on a 33-16 run to take a 51-34 lead into the halftime break. With a solid lead in hand, IUP never looked back as the Crimson Hawks rolled to the 103-81 victory over West Chester.
Marcus Littles (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) scored a career-high 13 points and tied with
Kyle McGee (Jersey City, N.J./St. Mary's of the Assumption) for the team lead in scoring as the two combined to go 12-of-18 from the field in the loss. As a team, West Chester shot 43.5 % (30-of-69) from the field but just 19.2 % (5-for-26) from deep in the setback.
For the year,
Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) remains the Golden Rams leading scorer, averaging 14.4 points per game, while McGee is second on the squad in scoring and rebounding, averaging 13.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, while also leading the team in steals (1.7/G).
Malik Slay (Philadelphia, Pa./Downingtown East) has been one of the top facilitators on the team this season, averaging a team-best 3.6 helpers per contest.
As a team, West Chester is eighth in the league (but second in the PSAC East) in points per game, averaging 82.7 per contest while limiting opponents to an average of just 76.3 points per game, thus far in the 2021-22 season. The Golden Rams have shown themselves to have one of the best perimeter defensive units in the league, holding opponents to an average of just 25.9 % shooting from beyond the arc, which ranks second in the PSAC. On the offensive end, West Chester is shooting 42.9 % from the field and 30.6 % from beyond the arc while also shooting 76.0 % from the line, which is fourth-best in the PSAC so far this season. The team has also done a good job on the glass this season, averaging 46.1 rebounds per contest, which also ranks second in the PSAC entering play this week.
For Seton Hill, the Griffins enter play following their seventh loss in as many tries to open the season, having fallen at Kutztown by a 67-53 final despite outscoring the host Golden Bears (33-29) in the second half. Seton Hill went down early in this contest and trailed by 18 points (38-20) at the halftime break and could never complete the comeback, falling by 14 points on the road to drop to 0-7 overall and 0-2 in league play on the season. Drew Green and Samuel Tabe tied for the team lead in scoring with 11 points each, while Aaron Celcis ended with 10 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. As a team, Seton Hill shot just 32.7 % from the field and 30.0 % from beyond the arc while also registering a free-throw shooting performance of just 64.7 % in the setback.
Green and Tabe are the Griffins leading scorers for the year, averaging 14.3 and 12.7 points per game, respectively, while Green and Ceclis rank first and second on the team in rebounding, averaging 4.6 and 4.5 rebounds per game. As a team, Seton Hill enters play, scoring an average of 66.7 points per game while surrendering an average of 81.1 per game, being outscored by an average of 14.4 points per game to open the year. Despite the poor start to the year, Seton Hill has not shot terribly from the field this year, entering play with a field-goal percentage of 40.7 % and a three-point shooting percentage of 32.4 % while also outrebounding opponents by an average of 1.4 rebounds per contest (36.3-34.9). Turnovers have been something of a problem for the Griffins this season, as the team commits an average of 14.4 turnovers per game, including 14 (seven via steals) at Kutztown.
Following this contest, West Chester will return to campus briefly before heading back to the Pittsburgh Area for a weekend set vs Cal (Pa.) and Slippery Rock on Saturday the 18
th, and Sunday the 19
th, respectively with each of those games set to begin at 3 p.m.
