WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester men's basketball team (13-6, 8-5) will look to get right back on track on Saturday afternoon at home against Bloomsburg (1-16, 1-12) in the final PSAC East clash of the month of January beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Fan's should note that both games on Saturday afternoon start an hour later than usual (2 and 4 instead of 1 and 3) as Saturday afternoon is also Alumni Day presented by the West Chester University Alumni Association in Hollinger.
Series Information
With ample history between one another, West Chester holds a slim 72-69 lead in the all-time series against Bloomsburg after winning each of the last three and five of the last six against the Huskies. West Chester swept both ends of the season series a year ago, including a 91-58 victory in Hollinger last February.
In the second game of the series between West Chester and Bloomsburg a year ago, West Chester took an early lead and never looked back, never trailing against the Huskies en route to a convincing 91-58 win over its PSAC East foes. West Chester led by as many as 37 late in the second half on the way to the victory, being led offensively by
Elijah Allen with 19 as the first of four Golden Rams in double figures.
Kyle McGee added 16 of his own, and
Robert Smith came away with 14 in a convincing victory for a season sweep of the Huskies.
West Chester would appear primed to bounce back on Saturday afternoon as the Golden Rams have played to a record of 5-1 in weekend games this year, including a perfect 5-0 record in games played on Saturday's.
Flock Talk
West Chester entered play on Wednesday night as winners of four in a row, looking to keep that streak alive at Millersville. West Chester fell behind early but eventually caught back up, holding a 15-14 lead briefly midway through the first half before trailing 37-28 at the halftime break. In the second half, Millersville led by as many as 13 with 14:26 to play in regulation before West Chester went on an impressive run, outscoring Millersville 21-6 to over the next seven minutes to take a 58-56 lead, which would be the team's largest and last lead of the game. Millersville answered quickly, going on a 9-0 run to take a 65-58 lead over the Golden Rams, which West Chester would never fully recover from in the 79-72 setback.
Elijah Allen led four Golden Rams in double figures with a game-high 19 points on 5-of-12 shooting. At the same time,
Robert Smith had 16, and
Kyle McGee registered a double-double, finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Still, it was not enough to complete the comeback and keep the winning streak alive against a determined Millersville team.
Rebounding and success have gone hand in hand for West Chester this year, as the team is 11-2 when outrebounding its opponent while going 2-4 in games where it is outrebounded. West Chester is first in the PSAC in rebounding (40.5/g) and first in offensive rebounding (13.5/g). West Chester also ranks 14th in all of Division II in offensive rebounding, which has translated into an average of 14.9 second-chance points per game, outscoring its opponents in this category in 14 of 18 games.
Scouting Bloomsburg
Bloomsburg earned its first victory of the year on Wednesday night over Kutztown, erasing a seven-point halftime deficit and picking up its first victory at the Golden Bears since 2002. The Huskies shot 50.0 % from the field and 42.9 % from deep, sinking nine three-pointers to earn the 86-78 comeback victory. Sophomore guard Matt Bengel led the team in scoring with 25 points and three steals, while local senior forward Jake Nelson pulled in a team-high 14 rebounds in the comeback.
For the year, Louie Wild, who led the team in assists on Wednesday with five in the win, has been the team's leading scorer (14.7/g) and assist leader (2.9/g), while Nelson is second on the team in scoring (11.6/g) while also leading in rebounding (8.5/g) entering play on Saturday night. On the year, Bloomsburg shoots 42.3 % from the field and 33.5 % from beyond the arc while also shooting 73.2 % from the line on the season. The Huskies have not made the most of their opportunities to gain extra possessions under first-year head coach Chris Bess, losing the rebounding battle by an average of 3.7 rebounds per game while also losing the turnover battle by an average of 3.9 rebounds per contest.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action on Wednesday evening vs Kutztown beginning at 7:30 p.m.
