MANSFIELD, Pa.- The West Chester men's basketball team (10-7, 5-7 PSAC) took to the road on Saturday evening to face Mansfield, looking for its second win in a row and a sweep of the season series vs the Mountaineers. Mansfield had other ideas on Saturday afternoon as the host Mounties never trailed en route to a 94-90 victory over the visiting Golden Rams.
Mansfield wasted little time in taking an early lead, jumping out to a 23-11 advantage in the first 5:45 of play to hold an early 12-point advantage over the Golden Rams. Mansfield maintained this lead throughout the remainder of the first half, carrying a 52-34 lead into the halftime break.
As a team, West Chester shot just 33.3 % from the field in the opening half and just 23.1 % from deep to take an early deficit into the halftime break.
In the second half, Mansfield opened the scoring, stretching its lead to 20 points, which would be its largest lead of the game before West Chester started its comeback effort. With the score at 62-48 in favor of Mansfield with 16:07 to play, West Chester went on a 13-7 run over the next 5:35 to cut the deficit to 69-61 with just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation. West Chester continued its comeback effort down the stretch, eventually trailing by just one point (91-90) following a successful three-point play from
Jamil Manigo (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) with 22 seconds to play. Mansfield scored the final three points of the game over the final 22 seconds of regulation to escape with the 94-90 upset victory over the Golden Rams and snap an eight game losing streak vs the Purple and Gold.
The second half brought with it a much improved shooting performance for West Chester as the Golden Rams shot 60.0 % from the field and 50.0 % from beyond the arc to end the game with a 47.6 % field goal percentage and 37.0 % three-point shooting percentage as they nearly completed the 20-point comeback.
Matt Dade (Collegeville, Pa./Episcopal Academy) turned in another double-double performance, finishing with 16 points and 12 rebounds while
Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) led the squad in scoring with 20 points on a team-best 7-of-12 shooting. Manigo, who nearly brought the Golden Rams back in the closing seconds, ended with 16 points while
Josh Samec (Tresckow, Pa./Hazleton Area) chipped in 14 of his own to round out the Golden Rams in double figures.
Justice Smith led five Mounties in double figures with 27 points and 13 rebounds as one of two Mansfield players with a double-double in the upset victory (Woodring-12 points/11 rebounds). Jaz Farrell also turned in a strong performance, finishing with 20 points of his own to help lead the Mountaineers offense.
As a team, Mansfield shot 42.3 % from the field and 30.0 % from three-point territory while also shooting 90.3 % (28-of-31) from the charity stripe in the victory.
Mansfield also ended the game with a 43-39 edge in rebounding thanks to an 11-7 advantage on the offensive glass, marking the second game in a row in which the Division II offensive rebounding leading Golden Rams have been outdone on the offensive glass. This 11-7 advantage translated into a slim 14-13 edge in second-chance points to help Mansfield earn the upset.
The Golden Ram bench continues to be an area of strength for head coach
Damien Blair's charges as the Golden Rams once again ended the game with a 20+-point advantage in bench points as the Purple and Gold's second unit outscored Mansfield's bench 28-4 in the setback.
West Chester will be back in action on Monday evening at Shepherd before welcoming the Rams to Hollinger Field House on Wednesday evening for the second game of the season series vs Shepherd.
