WEST CHESTER, Pa.-Davante Dennis (Baltimore, Md./Red Lion) tied with
Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover) for the team lead in scoring 21 to help lead the West Chester University men's basketball team (14-3, 9-1) to a dominant 95-78 victory over Shippensburg (6-11, 4-7) on Saturday afternoon.
West Chester's 95 points is a new season-high for the Golden Rams, while the team's 33 assists is the most in a game since at least the 2010 season. West Chester finished with five in double figures led by the two 21-point efforts from Dennis and Allen, while
Joshua Walker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Riverdale Baptist) and
Dylan Blair (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) added 13 each, along with 10 from
Anthony Purnell Jr. (Chester, Pa./Kiski).
Walker and Blair both registered double-doubles in the victory as Walker secured a team-high 11 rebounds, while Blair dished a team-high 11 assists in the 17-point win.
West Chester trailed by seven midway through the first half, but a rim-rattling alley-oop by Dennis gave West Chester a 31-29 lead that the team would never relinquish in the PSAC East triumph. West Chester used an 8-0 run late in the first half to carry a 46-40 lead into the break and stretched its lead to as many as 21 late in the second half in the win.
West Chester shot 55.7 % (39-of-70) from the field, including 26.9 % (7-of-26) from three-point range, while also shooting 83.3 % (10-of-12) from the free throw line to improve to a perfect 9-0 in Hollinger Field House this season.
Shippensburg shot 44.1 % (26-of-59) from the field, including 30.4 % (7-of-23) from three-point range, while also shooting 79.2 % (19-of-24) from the free throw line. One of the top scorers in the PSAC, Markus Frank, led three Raiders in double figures with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Donovan Hill and Jaydon Smith added 17 and 13, respectively.
West Chester found itself behind early, trailing by seven near the midway point of the half after ending on the wrong end of a 9-0 Shippensburg run, leading to a quick Golden Ram timeout.
Head Coach
Damien Blair's timeout seemed to do its job as it settled the Golden Rams down. They methodically erased the deficit before sneaking out to an eight-point lead with under three minutes to play until halftime after an 8-0 run of their own.
Shippensburg managed to cut the deficit to six, but West Chester held a 46-40 lead at the break after a first half that featured five ties and eight lead changes.
Dennis was excellent in the first half, scoring 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, including a pair of important makes from three-point range.
Frank led Shippensburg in scoring with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including a perfect 2-for-2 from deep and a 2-for-4 effort at the charity stripe through the first 20 minutes.
West Chester scored the first six points of the second half and jumped out to a 52-40 lead with 18:11 to play, prompting a quick Shippensburg timeout.
West Chester stretched its lead to 67-49 with 11:39 to play after a Dennis layup, giving the home-standing Golden Rams their largest lead of the afternoon to that point.
West Chester stretched its lead to 20 moments later and led by as many as 21 in the final minutes of the second half en route to the 95-78 victory.
In addition to its 33 assists, West Chester ended the game with a 45-22 rebounding lead, which translated into an 18-10 lead in second-chance points and a 62-34 lead in points in the paint.
West Chester also finished the game with a 24-20 lead in points off the break and a 19-13 lead in points off the bench led by 10 from Purnell Jr.
Up Next:
West Chester is back in action on Wednesday night at Mansfield, beginning at 7:30, before hosting Bloomsburg on Saturday afternoon at 3.
