Spectator Information
BLOOMSBURG, Pa.- The West Chester men's basketball team (8-5, 3-5 PSAC) will look to get back on track Saturday afternoon at Bloomsburg ()after falling to Millersville at home on Monday night in yet another tight, one-possession game, marking the third game in a row decided by one basket or less for the Purple and Gold. Saturday's game is set to tip at 3 p.m. as it will be the second game of a doubleheader between the Golden Rams and Huskies with the West Chester women's basketball team set to do battle vs the Huskies first, beginning at 1 p.m.
The Series
West Chester and Bloomsburg have lengthy history with one another, with the first meeting between the two squads, believed to have been in the 1946-47 season. Since that first loss to open the series, West Chester has gone 70-68 vs the Huskies, holding a slim 70-69 lead in the all-time series thanks in large part to a win in the most-recent meeting between the two sides. Interestingly enough, West Chester also has the honor of having been a part of the first game played inside Nelson Field House back in December of 1972, falling to the Huskies by a 79-51 final.
In more recent history such as the 2019-20 season, West Chester and Bloomsburg split the series with each team earning a victory on its home court, including a 100-97 victory in Hollinger near the end of the 2020 season. This victory was made possible by a historic 50-point performance from Robbie Heath, making him the second Golden Ram in school history to reach the 50-point plateau when he accomplished it almost two years ago. Among the Golden Rams returning core,
Matt Dade (Collegeville, Pa./Episcopal Academy) led the way scoring 15 points and adding seven rebounds in 17 minutes of action off the bench for the Purple and Gold.
Flock Talk
West Chester enters this game coming off another hard-fought game, which saw the Golden Rams finish on the wrong end of a 73-72 final score marking the third game in a row decided by one basket or less and the fifth game in a row decided by five points or fewer. In this game, West Chester found itself in an early hole, being outscored 8-0 over the first five minutes of the game and trailing by as many as 14 later in the first half before mounting a furious second-half comeback. In the second half, West Chester erased the deficit and took the lead near the midway point of the frame, thanks in large part to 16-0 run, which gave the team a seven-point lead by the time it concluded. This seven-point lead would not last as Millersville responded quickly to tie the score and the two teams began trading baskets down the stretch. West Chester took its final lead of the game with just under a minute to play following a pair of made free throws by
Dame Wall (Philadelphia, Pa./Constitution) but it was Millersville who would score the final points of the game from the line to escape with the victory.
Kyle McGee (Jersey City, N.J./St. Mary's of the Assumption) led the team in scoring, finishing with 14 points as one of five Golden Rams in double figures in the setback.
Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt), Dade, and McGee continue to be offensive weapons for West Chester, as Smith leads the trio and the team in scoring, averaging 15.1 points per game while Dade and McGee average 13.3 and 12.3, respectively. Newcomer
Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover) has started to make an impact for the Golden Rams already as he has scored in double figures twice in his first three games as a Golden Ram, including a career-high 15 point effort in his debut vs Mansfield.
As a team, West Chester continues to lead all of Division II in offensive rebounding, averaging 17.31 offensive rebounds per contest, ahead of UNC Pembroke who is second in the nation in this category, averaging 16.73 offensive rebounds per game. While the Golden Ram's starting five has been challenging to stop throughout the season, things do not get any easier for opponents when West Chester turns to its second unit as this group has outscored opponents in every game so far this season, including an impressive 40-7 effort vs IUP earlier in the year. Overall, West Chester's bench has outscored the opposing bench unit 426-210, averaging 32.7 points per game off the bench compared to just 16.2 for its opponents.
The timing on Saturday may prove to be perfect for West Chester to break out of its two-game losing streak as the Golden Rams are 3-1 in Saturday games with its lone loss coming vs nationally-ranked IUP early in the month of December while playing to a mark of 5-4 in games on any other day of the week.
Scouting Bloomsburg
Bloomsburg likely understands the Golden Rams pain when it comes to narrow losses vs Kutztown, having fallen to the Golden Bears in the closing seconds after Jalen Bryant rattled home a pair of free throws with 0.1 left on the game clock to give Kutztown the 75-74 win. The two teams locked in a tight battle throughout the game with neither side ever managing to stretch its lead to double digits, Bloomsburg retook the lead late with a clutch five-point sequence from Justin Anderson, who ended the night as the Huskies leading scorer with 29 points before Kutztown was able to slip past and earn another late victory. Anderson was one of two Bloomsburg players in double figures in the setback as Travis Elmore added 12 points of his own in the loss. As a team, Bloomsburg shot well from the field, shooting 51.7 % from the line and 38.5 % from deep but shot just 50.0 % from the stripe in the setback.
Anderson and Elmore have been consistent offensive weapons for Bloomsburg this year, ranking first and second on the team in scoring, averaging 18.5 and 11.2 points per game, respectively while Elmore also ranks second in rebounding, averaging 5.5 rebounds per game. For his part, Anderson ranks third on the team in rebounding, averaging 4.2 per game and ranks second on the squad in assists, averaging 1.4 helpers per contest.
As a team, Bloomsburg enters play averaging just 72.2 points per game while surrendering an average of 81.0 points per game through its first 12 games of the year. While the Huskies have been ok from the field, shooting 44.3 % overall on the year and 33.8 % from deep the free-throw line has been a difficult place for the team as they are shooting just 58.4 % on the season, which has proved problematic in close games down the stretch.
Up Next
West Chester will have a quick turnaround as the team returns to action on Monday evening at East Stroudsburg with that contest set to begin at 5:30 p.m.
