SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.V.- The West Chester University men's basketball team (13-8, 10-5) is finishing its preparations for its first road trip of February as the team heads to West Virginia to take on the PSAC's newest and southern-most member in Shepherd (9-11, 6-9) beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday night.
Wednesday night's trek to Shepherd will be the first of two straight away from home for West Chester as the Golden Rams head to PSAC East leader and nationally-ranked foe East Stroudsburg on Saturday at 3 p.m. for the second game of the season series against the Warriors.
SERIES INFORMATION
Winners of five in a row and six of the eight in the series, West Chester enters play on Wednesday night looking for win No. 10 all-time against Shepherd, hoping to improve to 10-3 in its 13th game against the Rams. As the newest member of the PSAC, Shepherd has given West Chester several great games over the years, with each of the last four being decided by single digits, including a pair of one-point wins for WCU a year ago. Earlier this season, West Chester posted an 82-72 victory over Shepherd after leading by as many as 20 midway through the second half. In West Virginia a year ago, West Chester needed a late corner three by
Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover) to escape with a low-scoring 64-63 victory over the Rams.
FLOCK TALK
West Chester hosted Lock Haven on Saturday afternoon, looking to avoid its first sweep at the hands of the Bald Eagles since the 2016-17 season. West Chester led for less than three minutes on Saturday afternoon but was well within striking distance throughout the afternoon, keeping the deficit to five or less for much of the day.
Jordan Kellier (Kingston, Jamaica/Redemption Christian) hit a clutch three with just over 30 seconds to play, which gave West Chester a 77-76 lead, but Justice Shoats was determined not to lose on a late three once again, hitting an acrobatic driving layup with under five seconds to play, which made the difference. West Chester saw four players finish in double figures, led by 20 from
Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) and 19 points, along with 16 rebounds from Kellier for his fifth straight double-double.
Kellier became the latest Golden Ram to earn PSAC East Athlete of the Week honors on Monday afternoon as the grad student forward was named PSAC East Defensive Athlete of the Week, becoming the first Golden Ram to receive this honor since
Eli Barrett a year ago. Kellier is currently in the midst of a streak, which has seen him record a double-double in five straight games, averaging 14.6 points and 14.6 rebounds per game over three games last week, and averaging 15.2 points and 13.4 rebounds per game over the last five. With this effort, Kellier is now first in the league and ninth in DII in rebounding, averaging 10.5 rebounds per game, while also helping West Chester rank 18
th in DII in offensive rebounding, averaging 13.4 per game. Kellier is one of just a number of dangerous options for West Chester offensively as four members of the Golden Ram starting five average in double figures, led by Allen and Smith, who average 18.4 and 16.9 points per game, while
Joshua Walker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Riverdale Baptist) and Kellier average 13.9 and 12.7 per game.
The Golden Rams are also 10-6 on the year when outrebounding their opponents, something the Purple and Gold have done in seven games in a row, with the last exception being January 10 against Shepherd. West Chester also enters play with a 316-179 lead in second-chance points, averaging just over 15 second-chance points per game. The Golden Rams have also had a direct correlation between their work in the paint and their success on the scoreboard this year, playing to a record of 11-3 when outscoring opponents in the paint, outscoring teams by a 545 (38.9/g)-358 (25.6/g) margin in such games this season.
SCOUTING SHEPHERD
Shepherd enters play on Wednesday night with a record of 9-11 after falling to No. 15/5 East Stroudsburg on the road on Saturday by a 73-59 final. The Rams did a good job keeping the high-powered Warrior offense somewhat in check on Saturday afternoon, limiting their hosts to just 32 points in the second half. 73 points is the Warriors second-lowest scoring output in a win so far this season, being passed only by a pair of 65-point efforts in wins over Mercyhurst and IUP. Similarly to when Shepherd visited Hollinger, the Warriors jumped out to an early lead, carrying a 41-32 lead into the halftime break and extending their advantage early, but the Rams battled back, ending the half outscored by just five to keep the game close throughout the evening. Jarod Robinson finished with a double-double, his first of the season, after scoring 17 points and adding 10 rebounds in the setback. Robinson was one of three Rams in double figures as Carson Poffenberger scored 13 to go along with 16 points off the bench by freshman Marcus Banks. The ordinarily dangerous Daniel McClain-Corley, who averages a team-best 13.8 points per game, was stymied by the Warrior defense, scoring just two points on 1-of-9 shooting. As a team, Shepherd shot 39.7 % from the field, including a 26.1 % effort from beyond the arc in the setback, while matching ESU in rebounding, corralling 39 rebounds each.
As a team, Shepherd enters play after also going 3-1 during its four-game gauntlet last week, earning victories over Bloomsburg, Shippensburg, and Kutztown before falling to ESU. This three-game streak halted a two-game losing streak for the Rams and helped the team win four of its last seven games heading into Wednesday's clash. Averaging 63.8 points per game on 42.4 % shooting from the field and 30.5 % from beyond the arc, Shepherd also holds a +1.8 (34.2-32.4) lead in rebounding and a +0.3 (11.9-12.3) advantage in the turnover battle. Individually, McClain-Corley and Phillip Jordan lead the team in scoring, averaging 13.8 and 12.0 points per game, respectively. Jordan leads the team in most other major categories, including rebounding (5.1/g), assists (4.0/g), and steals (1.6/g), while Banks is second on the team in all three of those categories, averaging 5.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.
UP NEXT
West Chester returns to action on Saturday at East Stroudsburg at 3 p.m.
