WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester University men's basketball team (10-4, 4-3) overcame a slow start offensively to post a dominant 76-54 victory over Shippensburg (6-8, 1-6) on Alumni Day in Hollinger Field House on Saturday evening.
West Chester trailed for much of the first half and found itself tied at 28-28 after shooting just 32.3 % (10-for-31) from the field in the first 20 minutes but shook this slow start off with a 51.4 % (19-of-37) shooting performance from the field in the second half with three makes from beyond the arc to coast to a 22-point victory after leading by as many as 23 in the waning moments.
West Chester ended the game shooting 42.6 % (29-of-68) from the field, including a 5-for-17 (29.4 %) effort from beyond the arc, while also shooting 65.0 % (13-of-20) from the free throw line.
Ruben Rodriguez Jr. (Reading, Pa./Reading) led West Chester in scoring with 14 points and 10 rebounds for another double-double, while
Joe Sedora (York, Pa./Red Lion), Jaysean Williams (Bloomfield, Ct./The Patrick School), and
Gabe Moss (Pottstown, Pa./The Hill School) finished with 13, 12, and 10 points, respectively. In addition to his 10 rebounds, Rodriguez Jr. finished with three assists, which was second best on the team, trailing only
Dylan Blair (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West), who finished with four assists in the victory.
Sedora nearly posted his first career double-double as the sophomore forward came away with nine rebounds in the win.
With West Chester still trailing with under 16 minutes to play, Moss hit a driving layup to bring West Chester back to within one before coming away with a steal and dunk, which gave the Golden Rams a 38-37 lead. Moss came through with another important dunk with 13:33 to play, which gave West Chester a 42-39 lead before blocking a Michael Dickson layup and grabbing his own rebound, which continued the Golden Rams' momentum. Williams hit a driving layup with 12:59 to play, which gave the Golden Rams a 44-39 lead that the team would never relinquish in the 22-point victory.
West Chester shot just 17.6 % (3-for-17) through the first nine minutes of action and found itself down 11-6 before trailing 14-6 with 10:15 to play until halftime.
The Golden Rams began to find their shooting stroke as the half progressed, cutting the Shippensburg lead to three with eight minutes to play after a
Luke Boyd (Somerton, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) three made the score 16-13 in favor of the Raiders.
Rodriguez Jr. tied it up quickly with a bank three with 7:04 to play in the first half before Shippensburg regained the lead and led 23-91 with 3:40 to play in the opening half. West Chester got its first lead since the early moments of the game with just under 40 seconds to play when
Anthony McCall (Philadelphia, Pa./ANC) hit a transition layup off an assist from
Dylan Blair (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) to restore a slim 28-26 lead. Shippensburg scored the final points of the half with 25 seconds remaining, and West Chester was unable to get a shot off on its final possession of the half as the game went to the break tied at 28-28.
West Chester shot just 32.3 % (10-of-31) from the field, including a 2-for-9 (22.2 %) effort from beyond the arc, while also going 6-for-9 (66.7 %) at the line. Rodriguez Jr. led West Chester in scoring in the first half with a game-high 12points on 4-of-7 shooting, along with six rebounds.
Led by nine points from Jaydon Smith, Shippensburg shot 40.0 % (10-of-25) from the field, including a 3-for-12 (25.0 %) from beyond the arc, while also shooting 62.5 % (5-of-8) at the line.
West Chester trailed in the early going of the second half, but thanks to a 6-0 run, which included the Moss dunk and was punctuated by a driving layup from Williams after the blocked shot with just under 13 minutes to play the Golden Rams took a five-point (44-39) lead, which was their largest of the game at that point.
Back-to-back
Dinari Boykin (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) three-pointers gave West Chester a 54-45 lead with 9:32 to play in regulation and forced a Shippensburg timeout in an attempt to slow the Golden Rams' momentum. Blair followed this up with a turnaround jumper in the lane, which hit every part of the rim before falling to give West Chester a 56-45 lead.
West Chester continued its strong second-half performance, stretching the lead to 66-49 with 3:18 to play when the game hit its ninth and final media timeout. The Golden Rams continued their strong run down the stretch, stretching their run to10-0 with just over two minutes to play en route to a 76-54 victory over the Raiders.
Shippensburg shot 36.2 % (17-of-47) from the field, including a 5-for-20 (25.0 %) effort from beyond the arc, while also going 15-for-19 (78.9 %) at the line. Smith led the Raiders in scoring with 15 points, while Markus Frank, who had entered the day as the PSAC's leading scorer, averaging over 20 points per game, was limited to just 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field.
West Chester finished the game with a 47-27 rebounding advantage, including a 26-9 lead on the offensive glass, which led to a 27-5 second-chance point advantage and a 44-20 lead in points in the paint. West Chester also finished the game with a 17-11 lead in turnovers and a 20-8 lead in points off turnovers, along with an 11-4 lead in points off the break.
Sedora and Williams finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively, to lead the West Chester bench in scoring as the Golden Rams outscored the Raider bench 32-15.
Up Next
West Chester will be back in action on Tuesday evening against Kutztown, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
