WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Coming off a loss to open PSAC play a night ago, the West Chester men's basketball team (5-2, 1-1) returned to action on Saturday night vs a winless-Gannon (0-6, 0-2) and bounced back nicely, cruising to a 82-74 victory over the Golden Knights.
Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) led four players in double figures with 18 points on 7-of-19 shooting while
Eli Barrett (Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg) finished with a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds thanks in large part to a 12-point/seven-rebound first half performance.
Joshua Walker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Riverdale Baptist) and
Kyle McGee (Jersey City, N.J./St. Mary's of the Assumption) each finished in double figures as well, scoring 15 and 17, respectively to help lead the Golden Rams.
West Chester trailed by as many as eight points early in the first half but found itself leading by as many as 16 points midway through the second half in the bounce back win over Gannon on Saturday night in Hollinger.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair throughout featuring five ties and six lead changes but it was West Chester who carried a 34-30 lead into the halftime break, after leading by as many as six with just under one minute to play in the first half.
West Chester surged out to an early five-point lead in the opening minutes before a 9-0 Gannon run gave the Golden Knights the largest lead of the first half, eight points with 12:20 to play in the opening stanza. West Chester battled back from this early deficit, eventually evening the score before finally retaking the lead late in the first half.
Eli Barrett (Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg) led all scorers in the first half with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting while
Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) finished with 10 points as the other Golden Ram in double figures after going 4-of-11 from the field in the first 20 minutes of basketball.
West Chester shot just 16.7 % (2-of-12) from three-point range and 36.1 % (13-of-37) from the field but also held Gannon to just 34.6 % shooting from the field and a 4-of-10 effort from deep heading into the halftime break.
Early in the second half, West Chester was able to stretch its lead to 13 points with just under 12 minutes to play following a successful trip to the charity stripe by Smith. West Chester quickly extended the lead to 16 points before Gannon began its comeback effort.
The Golden Knights worked hard to close the gap, trailing by as few as five points in the waning moments of regulation but West Chester made the most of its time at the free throw line in the final seconds of regulation, going 3-for-4 at the stripe, including a pair of makes by
Dame Wall (Philadelphia, Pa./Constitution) to put the game away and lift WCU to a 82-74 league victory.
West Chester was 27-of-70 (38.6 %) from the field and 7-for-27 (25.9 %) from deep while also 21-of-32 from the line while Gannon shot 45.1 % from the field and 42.9 % from deep but it was a 19-of-31 effort from the line and 22 turnovers compared to just nine for West Chester, which helped lead WCU to the league win. West Chester ended the game with a 20-5 lead in points off turnovers and a 17-9 advantage in second-chance points, ending the game with a 35-42 lead in rebounding, including a 18-10 advantage on the offensive glass.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action on Thursday night vs Holy Family at 7:30 p.m. in its non-league finale before jumping back into PSAC play on December 18
th at Pitt-Johnstown.
