BLOOMSBURG, Pa.- Matt Dade (Collegeville, Pa./Episcopal Academy) and
Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover) each turned in career performances as two of four Golden Rams in double figures as the West Chester men's basketball team (9-5, 4-5 PSAC) withstood a furious second-half comeback effort by Bloomsburg (3-10, 2-7 PSAC) to snap a two-game losing streak and earn a 98-91 road victory.
Dade led all scorers in the victory with a career-high 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting to go along with a career-best 17 rebounds, while Allen, who set a new career-high just one week ago, shattered that high with a 23-point effort. For Dade, this is his fifth double-double on the year, which continues to lead the Golden Rams.
Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) also ended with 24 points of his own, nearly matching his own career-high of 28 from earlier this season thanks in large part to a perfect 6-for-6 shooting performance from beyond the arc.
Jamil Manigo (Philadephia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) was the final Golden Ram to break into double figures, ending the day with 10 points after hitting a layup late in the fourth quarter to help West Chester secure the seven-point win.
This victory improves West Chester to 4-1 (80.0 % W%) in Saturday afternoon games while also serving as the sixth straight game to be decided by 10 points or fewer for the Golden Rams.
The first five minutes of the contest saw West Chester and Bloomsburg trade makes as the Golden Rams held a slim 11-10 lead with 15 minutes to play in the opening half. From this point, West Chester went on a 21-6 run over the next 5:30, led by eight points from
Matt Dade (Collegeville, Pa./Episcopal Academy) to take its largest lead of the game at 32-16 with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half.
Bloomsburg put together an impressive run to close the half, outscoring West Chester 26-19 to trail by just nine points (52-41) heading into the halftime break.
In the first half, Dade and
Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover) were impressive, ending the half with 16 and 15 points, respectively, while
Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) added 12 of his own to help West Chester carry a lead throughout much of the first half and into the halftime break.
In the early stages of the second half, Bloomsburg continued its good work from the end of the first half, outscoring West Chester 9-5 through the first two minutes of the second half to cut the Golden Ram lead to just four points (56-51) with 18 minutes to play. A Travis Elmore hook shot just 30 seconds later further cut into the Golden Ram lead, bringing the Huskies back within three points before Dade knocked down a pair of free throws to restore order and a five-point Golden Ram lead with just under 17 minutes to play.
Over the next few minutes, Bloomsburg continued to be a capable adversary for the visiting Golden Rams, tying the contest multiple times and eventually retaking the lead, making the score 65-64 in favor of the Huskies after a made three-pointer with 12:55 to play in regulation.
Over the next five minutes of play, West Chester answered back with a 13-3 on 5-of-8 shooting from the field led by eight points from
Jamil Manigo (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) to take a 77-68 lead with 7:54 to play. This lead was short-lived, however, as Bloomsburg countered with a 10-0 run over the next 1:53 with a balanced effort, led by four points from Travis Elmore to retake the lead with 6:01 to play. West Chester erased its one-point deficit as quickly as it came with a Smith layup on the ensuing possession just 19 seconds later to give the Purple and Gold back a slim 79-78 lead entering the late stages of the contest.
Elmore answered once again for Bloomsburg, scoring his 25
th points of the afternoon of an assist from Justin Anderson to give Bloomsburg back an 80-79 lead before returning the favor to Anderson moments later to help Bloomsburg take an 82-80 lead following a 1-for-2 trip to the charity stripe by Dade.
With the Golden Rams trailing by two points, which matched their biggest deficit of the afternoon to that point as the clock ticked under four minutes to play, Allen connected on a three-pointer off an assist from Smith to erase the deficit and give West Chester back an 83-82 lead.
The back-and-forth nature of the last few minutes of play continued until a five-point run by the Golden Rams, which included a pair of made free throws by Dade for his 25
th points of the game, followed by a made three from Smith gave West Chester a six-point (89-83) lead. Bloomsburg attempted to mount a late comeback, but West Chester was consistent from the line down the stretch to hold off the Huskies and earn the 98-91 road victory.
As a team, West Chester shot 42.7 % (32-of-75) from the field and 11-of-24 (45.8 %) from beyond the arc, thanks in large part to the stellar 6-for-6 effort by Smith. The Golden Rams were also 23-for-32 (71.9 %) from the line in the victory.
Entering play as one of the top offensive rebounding teams in all of Division II basketball, West Chester lived up to its reputation on Saturday night, pulling in 17 rebounds, which nearly matched their season average, resulting in 19 second-chance points for the Golden Rams in the victory. Despite a 17-15 advantage on the offensive glass, Bloomsburg did manage to end the game with a slim 45-44 edge in the rebounding battle after winning the defensive-rebounding battle by a 30-27 margin. West Chester also ended the game with a 21-19 advantage in bench points, a 38-36 edge in points in the paint, and a 13-9 advantage in points off turnovers, thanks in large part to a +6 (13-7) edge in the turnover battle.
For Bloomsburg, Elmore did his part to keep his Huskies in the game throughout, scoring a team-high 25 points on 11-of-18 shooting as one of three Bloomsburg players in double figures in the setback. As a team, Bloomsburg shot 47.2 % (34-of-72) from the field and 54.2 % (13-of-24) from three-point range while also going 10-for-16 (62.5 %) from the stripe in the setback.
West Chester will have little time to celebrate its latest triumph as the Golden Rams return to action on Monday evening at East Stroudsburg, with that contest set to begin at 7:30 p.m.
