WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Following an 83-73 victory over Mansfield on Saturday afternoon, the West Chester University men's basketball team (12-6, 9-3) returns to action tomorrow night at home against rival Millersville (14-4, 9-3) beginning at 7:30 in its second of four games in eight days. Three of the Golden Rams four games in this eight-day stretch will be played in front of the Hollinger Field House crowd, a place West Chester has found substantial success in recent years, playing to a record of 27-10 at home since the 2021-22 season.
SERIES INFORMATION
West Chester will look to continue its winning ways tomorrow night vs. Millersville as the Golden Rams hope to run their winning streak to two in a row over the Marauders. West Chester split the season series a year ago, falling to Millersville in Pucillo Gymnasium by a 79-72 final before picking up a 96-91 victory over the Marauders in double overtime in Hollinger Field House. This split improved West Chester to 106-102 all-time against Millersville in one of the Golden Ram's oldest rivalries, as the series can be traced back to the 1903 season. A year ago, the Golden Ram's double OT win over the Marauders was the team's first double OT victory since the 2015-16 season over Wilmington and first over a current league foe since the team defeated ESU during the 1979-80 season (W, 77-76).
Robert Smith led the way offensively, scoring a team-high 21 points, but it was
Dame Wall and
Elijah Allen who played the heroes in OT, combining for 12 points in the extra session to help West Chester earn the victory and eventually its first PSAC East crown since 2006.
FLOCK TALK
West Chester entered play on Saturday with the simple goal of extending its winning streak to three in a row with a victory over Mansfield. Despite a slow start to the game, which saw the two sides trade blows throughout much of the first 20 minutes, West Chester was able to pull away for an 83-73 victory over the Mountaineers. The first half featured six ties and seven lead changes, but West Chester was able to carry a slim 33-28 lead into the halftime break. Out of the break, the lead would not change hands again as the Golden Rams opened the half on a 22-10 run, which saw the team take a double-digit lead over the Mounties and never relinquish it down the stretch.
Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) scored a game-high 23 on 8-of-15 shooting, scoring 17 of those points on 6-of-8 shooting in the second half as the first of four Golden Rams in double figures in the victory.
Jordan Kellier (Kingston, Jamaica/Redemption Christian) continued to be a menace inside as well, finishing with 15 points and 12 rebounds for yet another double-double for the grad transfer forward. West Chester shot a stellar 69.2 % (18-of-26) from the field in the second half to erase any thoughts of an upset on Saturday afternoon as the Golden Rams shot 57.4 % (31-of-54) from the field and 33.3 % (6-of-18) from beyond the arc in the win. Smith's 23-point effort increased his season average to 17.1, while
Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover), who finished with 18 on 8-of-15 shooting as well, continues to lead the team in scoring, averaging 18.7 points per game.
Faced with the same prospect of playing four games in eight days a year ago, West Chester went 3-1 in that stretch before going 2-1 in a three-games-in, four-day stretch later in the season, handling the busy season about as well as one could hope.
West Chester, who ranks fourth in the league in scoring average, averaging 80.4 points per game, is led by the two-headed monster of Allen and Smith, who rank sixth and 10
th in the league in scoring, making West Chester the only team in the PSAC to have two players in the top-10 on the scoring chart entering this final month of the season. Smith, who became the first Golden Ram to score all 1,000 career points at WCU since Matt Penecale did so in 2018-19, continues his climb up the scoring chart, recently passing Penecale for 23
rd in team history in scoring. With 1,118 career points to his credit, Smith is just under 30 points away from Ralph Hegamin's mark of 1,146 for 22
nd all-time in scoring. With his team-leading seventh double-double of the year on Saturday afternoon, Kellier continues to present a matchup nightmare for opposing teams, ranking first in the league and 17
th in Division II in rebounds per game, averaging 9.7, including an average of 6.8 on the defensive glass, which ranks him 18
th in DII.
SCOUTING MILLERSVILLE
Riding a seven-game winning streak and looking nearly unbeatable over the last month, Millersville traveled to East Stroudsburg on Saturday afternoon, hoping to pull an upset on the nationally-ranked Warriors. Like many things, this idea proved to be little more than a hope as ESU jumped out to a 10-point lead at the half and never relinquished it en route to a 98-77 victory over the Marauders. A familiar face to West Chester men's basketball fans of a certain age, Matt Dade finished with a team-high 24 points in the setback, while Jaden Faulkner added 22 of his own in the ill-fated upset bid. The Marauders shot 44.2% from the field in the victory and committed 22 turnovers as the ESU defense continues to make a significant impact this season.
Entering play on Monday, Millersville ranks alongside West Chester among the top offensive units in the PSAC, averaging 79.5 points per game on 48.3 % shooting and 33.8 % from three-point range. Dade and Faulkner lead the team in scoring, averaging 17.8 and 16.8 points per game, while Faulkner is tied with Jahme Ested for the team lead in rebounding, averaging 5.3 per game.
Defense has been the calling card of head coach Casey Stitzel's Marauders this season, holding opponents to an average of 71.3 points per game, which ranks fourth in the league and second in the PSAC East. The Marauders have done an excellent job in the turnover battle entering the final month of the 2023-24 season, forcing opponents into an average of nearly 15 (14.9/g) turnovers per game through 18 games.
UP NEXT:
Today is part of a busy stretch for West Chester, which will see the team play four games in eight days. West Chester ventures back out on the road on Wednesday night to take on Bloomsburg beginning at 7:30 before hosting Lock Haven on Saturday at 3 p.m. in its lone Saturday game of February.
