WEST CHESTER, Pa.-Joshua Walker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Riverdale Baptist) scored a career-high 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting to help lead five Golden Ram starters in double figures but it was not enough to help the West Chester University men's basketball team (12-7, 9-4) knock-off PSAC East rival Millersville (15-4, 10-3) on Monday night as the Golden Rams fell by an 89-86 final in front of an outstanding Hollinger Field House crowd.
West Chester saw all five players score in double figures for the second time this month, following up on a similar effort in a win over Shepherd back on January 10.
Jordan Kellier (Kingston, Jamaica/Redemption Christian) picked up his eighth double-double of the year, scoring 14 points along with 11 rebounds, while
Anthony Purnell Jr. (Chester, Pa./Kiski) scored 15 to lead the Golden Rams guards in scoring.
Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover) scored 14 points to go along with 10 from
Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt), while Purnell Jr. led the Golden Rams in assists once again, finishing with six in the setback.
West Chester trailed for much of the game and throughout the second half, finding itself behind by as many as 17 with 12 minutes to play in regulation. This does not adequately tell the story of the game, however, as the Golden Rams battled all the way back, pulling back to within one multiple times in the final two minutes of regulation after going on a 21-10 run in the final five-and-a-half minutes of regulation. This second-half run was nearly enough to lead the Golden Rams to the comeback victory in a game that saw the purple and gold lead for just over a minute in the setback, but a solid free throw shooting effort down the stretch allowed the Marauders to escape with a three-point victory in a rare Monday night battle in Hollinger.
Day Waters led the way in scoring for Millersville, posting a game-high 28 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including a 6-of-12 effort from three-point range, while also corralling six rebounds in the victory. Waters scored 28 off the bench for the visitors, while Jaden Faulkner led the Marauders in scoring with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Drew Stover finished with 16 points of his own, along with 14 from Matt Dade in his return to Hollinger. Jahme Ested was the fifth and final Marauder in double figures, finishing with 11 points in the victory.
West Chester shot 57.6 % (34-of-59) from the field, including a 6-of-13 (46.2 %) from three-point range, while also shooting 66.7 % (12-of-18) from the line. Millersville shot 51.9 % (27-of-52) from the field, including 50.0 % (11-of-22) from three-point range, while also shooting 58.5 % (24-of-41) from the line to pull off the victory.
The first half was tight throughout as neither side held a lead larger than six as the half that featured two ties and two lead changes ended with the score tied at 40-40.
Shooting 45.8 % (11-of-24) for the half, Millersville opened the game with two quick makes by Jaden Faulkner to take an early 5-0 lead, which eventually led to the Marauders holding a 15-10 lead four minutes into the game. An
Anthony Purnell Jr. (Chester, Pa./Kiski) floater with 13:13 to play in the first half gave West Chester its first lead of the game at 19-17 and was part of a first-half best 6-0 run for the Golden Rams.
Millersville countered this 6-0 run with back-to-back threes by Day Waters, which helped the Marauders take their largest lead of the game at 29-23 with just over nine minutes to play in the first half.
The two teams continued trading makes until the Marauders held a 36-31 lead with 4:20 to play until halftime. West Chester closed the first half on a 9-4 run to even the score at 40-40 heading into the halftime break.
Walker led all scorers in the first half with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and a 4-for-6 effort at the line.
Millersville opened the second half on an 11-4 run to take a 51-44 lead and prompt a West Chester timeout with 17:20 to play. The early Golden Ram timeout seemed to do its job as West Chester countered with a run to trim the deficit to 53-49 with 15:10 to play.
The Marauders countered quickly, answering with a 9-0 run courtesy of three consecutive makes by Waters, forcing another Golden Ram timeout with 13:24 to play as the Golden Rams suddenly found themselves facing their largest deficit of the game to that point at 62-49. West Chester halted its scoreless drought following this timeout, but Millersville continued its hot shooting start to the second half as the game went to the under-12 media timeout, with the Marauders holding a 69-53 lead over the home-standing Golden Rams.
As the game ticked under eight minutes to play in regulation, Allen drained a big three of an assist by Purnell Jr. to cut the deficit to 73-62 and inject energy back into a great Hollinger Field House crowd.
Allen kept the comeback bid going with a big three with just under five minutes to play that cut the deficit to 79-70, but it was a 15-7 run that began with just under four minutes to play that brought the Hollinger Field House crowd to full throat on Monday night.
West Chester began its comeback effort with a pair of free throws by Smith, followed by a pull-up jumper by the guard moments later that cut the deficit to 82-76 with 3:09 to play. The Golden Rams cut the deficit to just four 30 seconds later after a perfect 2-for-2 trip to the line by Allen before pulling back to within three after a
Moro Osumanu (Reading, Pa./Reading) layup, which prompted a Millersville timeout. Out of the timeout, West Chester came away with another steal, this time from Purnell Jr., which led to a driving layup by Walker that cut the deficit to 83-82 and got the home crowd to its feet once again with 1:48 to play.
The Marauders hit two at the line, but a Purnell Jr. layup kept the game within one (85-84) until a Faulkner layup stretched the lead back to 87-84. The Golden Rams scored what would be their final points of the night moments later when Kellier hit a layup with 35 seconds to play following the Golden Rams final timeout of the night to cut the deficit to 87-86.
Unable to hold for the last shot, Millersville was forced to play things out, and the Marauders drew a foul with eight seconds to play as Matt Dade was fouled on the way up. Dade hit one of two at the line to make it an 88-86 game. With under eight seconds to play and no timeouts, West Chester needed to work quickly, driving the length of the floor and looking for an opening to either force overtime or win. The Golden Rams drove the length of the floor, but an offensive foul cut the possession short and gave the Marauders the ball back with two seconds to play. Trailing by eight and without the ball, West Chester had no recourse but to foul, and the Golden Rams fouled Dade once again, who hit the first of his two free throws and missed the second to help Millersville escape Hollinger with an 89-86 victory.
West Chester finished the game with a 32-30 lead in rebounding while also ending the game with a 48-26 lead in points in the paint and an 11-7 lead in points off the break.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action on Wednesday night at Bloomsburg beginning at 7:30 p.m.
