WEST CHESTER, Pa.- After a setback at Shippensburg on Monday night, which halted a three-game winning streak, the West Chester men's basketball team (16-7, 11-6) will look to start a new streak when East Stroudsburg (18-5, 12-5) visits Hollinger Field House tomorrow evening beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Series Information
West Chester enters play holding a 91-77 lead in the all-time series over East Stroudsburg, following a win over the Warriors back on January 21st, which halted a six-game losing streak against ESU. Despite this win, West Chester still has won just two of the last 10 meetings, with the other victory during that span coming on the road in 2018-19. West Chester has not defeated ESU in Hollinger since January of the 2017-18 season, a win that came amid three straight home wins over the Warriors.
In the first meeting at East Stroudsburg, West Chester trailed only briefly, finding itself behind for less than two minutes before erasing a 6-4 deficit with a 10-2 run to take a 14-8 lead, which the Golden Rams would never relinquish. West Chester earned its first win over East Stroudsburg since the 2018-19 season, leading by as many as 15 with just over 10 minutes to play before ESU began to battle back. The Warriors pulled to within four with under two minutes to play, but the Golden Rams closed the game with a 5-for-8 effort at the line to earn an 86-81 victory over ESU.
Joshua Walker had a career day in the win, finishing with 18 points and 13 rebounds to help carry the Golden Rams to the victory.
Flock Talk
West Chester returned to action on Monday night at Shippensburg, playing in its second game in three days after defeating Mansfield on Monday night. West Chester got off to a slow start and turned in a disappointing shooting effort throughout the night, hampered by a combined 5-of-28 effort from normally efficient
Robert Smith and
Elijah Allen, who also went just 3-of-17 from beyond the arc. Despite an uncharacteristically poor shooting performance,
Anthony Purnell Jr. did his best to lead West Chester to a crucial road win, finishing with a career-high 23 on 9-of-15 shooting, including a 2-for-3 effort from deep, but it was not enough as West Chester fell by an 84-68 final. West Chester pulled within 10 with under three minutes to play after trailing by as many as 21 early in the second half but scored just three points in the final two-and-a-half minutes in the road loss.
Purnell Jr. has played very well as of late, scoring in double figures in three of the last five and four of seven, including a career-best 23 a night ago at Shippensburg. Over the course of the last six, Purnell has averaged 11.4 points per game, while he is averaging 12.6 over his last five, increasing his season-scoring average to six points per game. Walker has also continued his solid second half of the season, scoring in double figures with 10 points again last night, marking the fourth game in a row and the sixth time in the last seven games in which he has scored in double figures. This impressive stretch, which included a career-high 23 points on Saturday at Mansfield, has boosted Walker's scoring average to 10.1 points per game while also averaging 6.7 rebounds per game after coming away with five rebounds last night at Shippensburg.
Scouting East Stroudsburg
East Stroudsburg enters on a three-game winning streak after defeating Bloomsburg a night ago by a 96-74 final. East Stroudsburg wasted little time in getting out to an early lead, jumping in front 48-33 before repeating its 48-point first half in the second half with a 48-41 advantage to roll to a 96-74 victory over the Huskies. ESU was remarkably balanced in this victory as the Warriors had six players in double figures, led by a pair of 15-point efforts from Jaelen McGlone and David Duda Jr, while Justin Paz added 14 in the convincing win. Duda Jr. was on fire from beyond the arc, connecting on 5-of-6 from deep while also coming away with a steal, while Lakeem McAliley and Carlos Pepin both finished with seven rebounds each to go along with 13 and 14 points, respectively. ESU shot nearly 60 % from the field in the second half, which allowed the Warriors to end the game with a 53.6 % (37-of-69) field goal shooting percentage and a 43.5 % (10-of-23) three-point shooting effort while also going 12-for-15 at the line after going 4-for-4 in the first 20 minutes of basketball
East Stroudsburg, led by a 17.3 point per game scoring average from Carlos Pepin, has once again shown itself as one of the most dangerous offensive teams in the PSAC East, averaging 90.2 points per game, which is best in the league by almost 10 points (Cal is second averaging 81.1/g). This stellar scoring average is made possible by a solid 48.7 % field goal percentage on the year and a 36.1 % shooting effort from beyond the arc, both of which rank in the top five in the PSAC and top two in the PSAC East. Equally as impressive has been the Warriors efforts on the glass, ranking second in the league in rebounding, averaging 39.4 per game, which trails only West Chester. While West Chester is among the Nation's leaders on the offensive glass, ESU gets it done as well as anybody on the defensive boards, averaging 27.2 rebounds per game, which is first in the PSAC entering the stretch run of the 2022-23 season. Pepin and McAliley have been a major key to this rebounding success, ranking first and second on the team in rebounding in addition to their 1, 2 rank in scoring, averaging 17.3 and 16.6 points to go along with an average of 9.3 and 6.4 rebounds per game.
Up Next:
West Chester will be off on Saturday afternoon before returning to action next Wednesday at Shepherd beginning at 7:30 p.m.
