INDIANA, Pa.-Looking to avoid a losing streak, the West Chester men's basketball team (6-4, 1-3) returned to action on Monday night against No. 2 Indiana (Pa.) (10-0, 4-0), who entered play with the top defensive unit in all of Division II men's basketball. The matchup was a defensive battle throughout as IUP entered play boasting the top defense in Division II, keeping the potent West Chester offense relatively in check in a 69-55 victory on Monday night. West Chester's defense also showed itself well on Monday night, holding the dangerous Crimson Hawk offense below 70 points, marking just the fourth time in 10 games this season that an opponent has managed to keep head coach Joe Lombardi's squad under the 70-point threshold.
Despite the setback, West Chester finished the night with two players in double figures led by a 17-point outing by
Kyle McGee (Jersey City, N.J./St. Mary's of the Assumption) on 8-of-13 shooting along with eight rebounds, which was second on the team, behind only
Eli Barrett (Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg) who came away with nine in the setback.
Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) was the other Golden Ram in double figures on Monday evening, finishing with 11 points of his own in the setback.
For IUP, Shawndale Jones and Dave Morris were the lone two Crimson Hawks in double figures, finishing with 23 points each while Morris also posted a team-best four assists. Damir Brooks led the Crimson Hawks in rebounding with seven, which combined with the game-high nine rebounds from Barrett helped West Chester end the game with a 41-33 edge in the rebounding battle.
IUP jumped out to an early lead, taking an 8-2 lead in the first four minutes of action before a perfect 2-for-2 trip to the line for
Joshua Walker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Riverdale Baptist) cut the deficit in half, making the score 8-4 with 15:45 to play in the first half. The host Crimson Hawks countered this with a quick 8-0 run, which included a pair of made three-pointers by Dave Morris to take a commanding 16-4 lead.
West Chester continued to fight back but it was second-ranked IUP who carried a 40-17 lead into the halftime break. West Chester worked to battle back from the halftime deficit throughout the second half, outscoring the Crimson Hawks 29-25 through the first 17 minutes of the second period, eventually outscoring its hosts 38-29 in the second half but it was not enough to complete the comeback effort.
As a team, West Chester shot 35.7 % (20-of-56) from the field while going 4-of-19 (21.1 %) from three-point range and 11-of-14 (78.6 %) from the line in the setback. For IUP's part, the Crimson Hawks shot slightly better from three-point territory, shooting 25.0 % (6-of-24) on the night while shooting 42.1 % (24-of-57) from the field overall and going a nearly identical 78.9 % (15-of-19) from the line in the victory.
The plus-eight advantage on the glass led to a 20-15 lead in second-chance points for West Chester while the Golden Rams second unit outscored their opponents once again, also ending the game with a 15-11 advantage in points off the bench.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action on Friday, December 30
th vs Seton Hill beginning at 5:30 p.m. inside Hollinger Field House.
