WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester men's basketball team (12-8) concluded its non-conference slate on Friday night against Penn State-Brandywine (9-15), prevailing by a final score of 99-49 to go unbeaten through non-conference action for the second time in as many years.
In the first half, West Chester opened the game on a 16-0 run before a 10-point scoring run by Penn State-Brandywine brought the visiting Lions back within six points near the midway point of the half, making the score 26-20 with 8:34 to play. West Chester closed the half on a 26-6 run to take a commanding 52-26 lead into the halftime break.
In the first half, 12 different Golden Rams entered their names in the scoring column, but
Kyle McGee (Jersey City, N.J./St. Mary's of the Assumption) led the way with a team-high 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field.
In the first half, West Chester shot 47.6 % (20-of-42) from the field and 33.3 % (4-for-12) from three-point territory while also going 8-of-9 from the line.
West Chester opened the second half with a 18-5 run over the first seven and a half minutes to take a commanding 70-31 lead over its non-league foes. Over the next three minutes, Brandywine answered with a 9-2 run to trim the deficit back to 32 points with 10:46 to play in regulation.
In the waning moments of regulation, West Chester continued its dominant performance, stretching its lead to as many as 52 points with 1:54 to play in regulation, eventually going on to win by 50 points over the visiting Lions.
The victory was a balanced effort for the Golden Rams as 13 different Golden Rams made entries into the scoring column led by 12 points from McGee, and
Marcus Littles (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann Goretti), along with 10 points each from
Julian Hairston (Philadelphia, Pa./Lower Merion) and
Moro Osumanu (Reading, Pa./Reading).
Dame Wall (Philadelphia, Pa./Constitution High School) finished with a game-high nine assists while
Jamil Manigo (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) narrowly missed a double-double ending with nine points and nine rebounds.
Vince Zulli led the way offensively for Penn State finishing with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting along with three rebounds.
As a team, West Chester outshot Penn State-Brandywine from the field and three-point range (51.3 % vs 25.5 % from FG range and 36.0 % vs 21.4 % from three-point land) in the dominant victory. West Chester also ended the game shooting 80.0 % from the line compared to Penn State's 69.2 % free-throw shooting effort.
West Chester ended the game with a +30 (58-28) lead in rebounding and a corresponding 20-6 lead in second chance points. The Golden Ram second unit was as effective as it has been all season tonight, ending the game with a 76-23 advance over Penn State's second unit. West Chester also ended the game with a 46-6 lead in fast break point, a 50-16 edge in points in the paint, and a 32-9 advantage in points off turnovers in the wire-to-wire win.
West Chester returns to conference action on Wednesday evening at Shippensburg with that contest slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.
