WEST CHESTER, Pa.-The West Chester men's basketball team (12-9, 6-9 PSAC) returns home on Saturday afternoon to host Bloomsburg (4-16, 3-13) beginning at 3 p.m. in what will be the first of a three-game homestand, which will see the Purple and Gold play in front of the home crowd three times over the next six days.
FAN INFORMATION
As a reminder, all spectators, regardless of vaccination status, are required to wear a mask when attending any indoor athletic contests inside Hollinger Field house, the Sturzebecker Health Science Center, or the Graham Natatorium. Masking by all spectators in attendance creates the safest possible atmosphere for the student-athletes, coaches, staff, team representatives, officials, and all other spectators.
Saturday is also "Pack the House" Day inside Hollinger Field House as the first 100 WCU students in attendance at the games will receive a free t-shirt and entry into a raffle.
SERIES INFORMATION
West Chester and Bloomsburg have substantial history with one another having met over 140 times in their respective histories. The series between the two Eastern Division rivals has been very evenly matched over the years, with West Chester holding a slim 71-69 lead in the series after winning each of the last two meetings to break free of a 69-69 tie. West Chester has won four of the last five meetings and has not dropped a home game to the Huskies since the 2017-18 season, when they lost by a 86-78 final.
West Chester and Bloomsburg met last on January 22nd with West Chester holding off a second-half comeback attempt by the Huskies to earn a 98-91 victory in the first meeting.
Matt Dade (Collegeville, Pa./Episcopal Academy) and
Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover) each turned in career performances as Dade led all scorers with 27 points and 17 rebounds while Allen set a new career-high with 23 points. West Chester jumped out to an early lead, holding a 32-16 advantage with under 10 minutes to play in the first half before Bloomsburg started its comeback. Bloomsburg eventually came all the way back and retook a slim 82-80 lead late but West Chester closed the game on a 18-9 run to escape with a 98-91 victory over the visiting Huskies.
FLOCK TALK
Jamil Manigo (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) led West Chester in scoring with 15 points and the Golden Rams closed the game on a 14-1 run, which saw them hold Shippensburg without a point in the final five minutes of the game but a 20-point deficit earlier in the half was too much to overcome in the 76-67 setback at Shippensburg.
Eli Barrett (Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg) led the charge for the Golden Rams in their ill-fated comeback bid, scoring six of his eight points during the 14-1 run but it was not enough to come all the way back to defeat the Raiders. This nine-point loss was the Golden Rams second largest loss of the season, second only to their loss vs IUP as the Golden Rams have dropped eight of their nine games this year by single digits.
Kyle McGee (Jersey City, N.J./St. Mary's of the Assumption) was the lone other Golden Ram in double figures in the loss, finishing with 10 points while Dade narrowly missed a double-double finishing with nine points and eight rebounds in the setback. As a team, West Chester shot 35.4 % from the field and just 25.0 % from beyond the arc while also shooting 77.3 % from the line in the setback.
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 76-23 effort vs PSU-Brandywine earlier in the year. Overall, West Chester's bench has outscored the opposing bench unit 722-303, averaging 34.3 points per game off the bench compared to just 14.4 for its opponents.
Matt Dade has been one of the most consistent Golden Rams this season, scoring in double figures in 17 of 21 games, including four games with 20 or more points. Dade has also come away with 10 rebounds in seven of 21 games this year, registering six double doubles on the season to lead the Golden Rams in this category. The sophomore guard/forward combo has led the team in scoring in five games this season including three of the last eight contests with a season-high 27 coming earlier in the month of January at Bloomsburg.
KNOW THE FOE
Bloomsburg enters play on Saturday following a frustrating loss of its own as the Huskies fell to the Warriors of East Stroudsburg by a 87-53 final score after failing to score 30 points or more in each half. Bloomsburg held an early lead for the first six minutes of the contest, leading by as many as four points with just over 14 minutes to play but ESU closed the half on a 38-12 run to take a 46-23 lead into the half. Bloomsburg tried to battle back in the second half but could not overcome the deficit in the 34-point loss. Ash Kemble led Bloomsburg in scoring with 15 points while Jake Nelson finished with 12 followed by Justin Anderson with 10 points of his own in the setback. As a team, Bloomsburg shot just 36.8 % from the field and 15.4 % from three while also shooting just 60.0 % from the line in the setback.
Bloomsburg, who enters play with a record of just 4-16 overall and 3-13 in league play, has been led offensively by Justin Anderson who ranks atop the team and near the top of the PSAC in scoring, averaging 18.8 points per game while Travis Elmore is second on the team in scoring averaging 11.9 points per game. Jake Nelson has been something of a pleasant surprise for Bloomsburg this year, ranking second on the team in scoring, averaging 9.2 points per game while leading the team in rebounding, securing an average of 8.9 rebounds per game through 20 games played this season. As a team, Bloomsburg averaged just 74.0 points per game and surrenders an average of 84.6 per game, a combination which does not bode well entering play against the top scoring offense in the league in the Golden Rams. Opponents have shot well from the field and from range against the Huskies this year, entering play with a 49.5 % field-goal percentage and a 34.6 % three-point shooting percentage. Bloomsburg has not shot particularly poorly from the field or three-point territory, but the Huskies have struggled from the line, shooting just 59.3 % from the stripe including a 60.0 % effort at East Stroudsburg on Wednesday evening.
UP NEXT
West Chester will be back in action on Monday evening vs Shippensburg beginning at 7:30 before hosting Kutztown on Wednesday evening with that game also set to begin at 7:30 in the final game of the three-game homestand.
