WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Joshua Walker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Riverdale Baptist) and
Dylan Blair (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) both registered double-doubles, finishing with 16 points and 12 rebounds and 19 points and 12 rebounds to help lead the West Chester University men's basketball team (7-2, 4-0) to an 88-80 victory over Indiana (Pa.) (5-5, 2-2) on Saturday afternoon.
A second-half team throughout the season, West Chester scored a season-high 53 first-half points to erase an early deficit and lead 53-42 at the half. This 11-point advantage was enough to help West Chester roll to the victory despite being outscored in the second half (38-35) for just the second time this season.
Walker and Blair were two of four Golden Rams in double figure as
Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover) tied with Blair for the team lead in scoring with 19 points, while
Anthony Purnell Jr. (Chester, Pa./Kiski) added 11 off the bench as West Chester's second unit mustered 22 points in the victory.
With this win, West Chester is 4-0 to start league play for the first time since 2019-20, when the Golden Rams completed Crossover play with a perfect 6-0 record. West Chester will not have the opportunity to duplicate this 6-0 mark this year as the Golden Rams will play only five crossover games due to the departure of Mercyhurst, which makes the Golden Rams game at Pitt-Johnstown a non-league affair.
Blair also finished with a team-best six assists in the win, while Purnell Jr added four of his own.
West Chester fell behind early, trailing 11 after an impressive barrage of threes by IUP. It was down 21-13 with 11:47 to play in the first half.
West Chester outscored its guests 40-21 down the stretch of the opening half, shooting an even 50.0 % (19-of-38) from the field in the first half while also going 4-for-9 (44.4 %) from three-point range.
Blair connected on three three-points in the first 20 minutes, scoring 11 points, including five in the final seven minutes to carry an 11-point lead into the halftime break.
Walker also scored 10 first-half points on 3-of-9 shooting while also going 4-for-5 at the line as the second Golden Ram in double figures.
Christian Moore and Kymani Merraro finished the first half with 16 and 10, respectively.
Excellent to start the game, IUP shot 50.0 % (7-of-14) through the first eight minutes but was just 7-of-15 down the stretch of the half, shooting 48.3 % (14-of-29) through the first 20 minutes, including a 5-for-12 effort from deep, after hitting on four three-pointers in the first eight minutes of the game.
IUP also went 9-for-12 (75.0 %) at the free-throw line.
West Chester stretched its lead to 13 early in the second half after a driving layup by Walker, but IUP stayed within reach, keeping the deficit at 57-48 with under 16 minutes to play.
West Chester continued to lead as the game wound its way to its conclusion, holding a 72-62 lead with six minutes to play after leading by as many as 14 with 11:37 to play after a pull-up jumper by Blair.
Blair got the lead back to 16 with a driving layup with under four minutes to play in regulation and the chance to make it a 17-point lead with a free throw out of the under-four media timeout.
Leading by 13 with under two minutes left, IUP began mounting a late-game comeback, cutting the West Chester lead to seven with 50 seconds to play after a pair of successful traps. Seven was as close as IUP was able to get as West Chester halted the 8-0 Crimson Hawk run and earned an 88-80 victory over its visitors, marking its first win over IUP since December 2, 2017.
IUP was led by 19 points from Christian Moore and 15 more from Kymani Merraro, while Luke Triggs added 12 off the bench to lead all non-starters in the loss. Merraro also registered three steals in the setback.
IUP shot 42.2 % (27-of-64) from the field and 33.3 % (9-of-27) from deep while also going 17-for-24 (70.8 %).
For its part, West Chester shot 44.1 % (30-of-68) from the field and 42.9 % (6-of-14) from three-point range while also going 22-for-28 (78.6 %) at the charity stripe.
West Chester ended the game with a 52-30 lead in rebounding, including a 24-14 lead on the offensive glass, which resulted in a 26-19 lead in second-chance points. West Chester also finished the game with an 18-10 lead in points off the break, while the Crimson Hawks finished even with the Golden Rams in points in the paint at 34-all.
Up Next:
West Chester is back in action on Saturday, December 14, at Caldwell beginning at 1 p.m.
