WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Gabe Moss (Pottstown, Pa./The Hill School) scored a game-high 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting to help lead the West Chester University men's basketball team (20-6, 14-5) to an 89-67 victory over Lock Haven (9-17, 5-14) on Saturday afternoon.
Moss was one of three Golden Rams in double figures as
Jaysean Williams (Bloomfield, Ct/The Patrick School) and Anthony McCall (Philadelphia, Pa./ANC) finished with 18 and 17, respectively.
Dinari Boykin (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) nearly posted a double-double, finishing with a game-high 10 rebounds and eight points in the win.
West Chester shot 55.9 % (19-of-34) from the field in the second half and finished the game shooting 50.7 % (34-of-67) from the field, including a 36.8 % (7-of-19) effort from three-point range. West Chester also shot 66.7% (14-of-21) from the free-throw line in the triumph.
Prior to Saturday's game, West Chester honored longtime faculty member Dr. Tammy James as the inaugural WCU recipient of the PSAC's LP Hill Unity in Sports Award. Read more about Dr. James and the honor
here. On hand to help present the honor to Dr. James were West Chester University President Dr. Laurie Bernotsky, Director of Athletics
Terry Beattie, and Associate AD
Kellianne Milliner.
West Chester got out to an early 12-point lead just over 11 minutes into the second half before Lock Haven responded with a 7-0 run, which eventually helped the Bald Eagles cut the Golden Rams' lead to six (36-30) heading into the halftime break.
Led by 11 points from McCall and 10 from Moss, West Chester shot 45.5 % (15-of-33) from the field, including a 33.3 % (4-of-12) effort from three-point range, while also shooting 40.0 % (2-of-5) from the line.
Lock Haven shot 40.0 % (12-of-30 from the field, including a 33.3 % (4-of-12) effort from three-point range) while also going 2-for-3 at the free throw line.
West Chester also ended the first half with a 20-16 lead in points in the paint and a 14-0 lead in second-chance points as West Chester ended the half with a 24-15 lead in rebounding.
Lock Haven trimmed the lead to three to open the second half before West Chester responded and restored a 56-45 lead after a put-back dunk by Moss with 13:40 to play, which prompted a Lock Haven timeout.
Luke Boyd (Somerton, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) stretched the lead to 16 with 9:40 to play, and West Chester held a 65-52 lead with 8:21 remaining as the game hit its second and final under-eight media timeout of the afternoon.
West Chester stretched its lead to 18 but held a 77-64 lead with 4:23 to play as the game reached its final media timeout. Williams hit a jumper with 47 seconds to play, which gave West Chester an 89-67 lead, and the team never trailed again. The Golden Rams extended their lead to 22 with 47 seconds to play when Williams hit a jumper, which gave the Golden Rams an 89-67 victory.
Lock Haven shot 42.1 % (24-of-57) from the field, including a 28.6 % (6-of-21) from three-point range, while also going 13-for-21 (61.9 %) at the free throw line. Blake Deegan and Dean Coleman-Newsome tied for the team lead in scoring for Lock Haven with 16 points each, as Dyllon Scott and Keith Warren added 15 and 10 as the third and fourth Bald Eagles in double figures.
West Chester finished the game with a 49-26 lead in rebounding, including a 14-5 lead on the offensive glass, which helped the team finish the game with a 20-0 lead in second-chance points, along with a 46-34 lead in points in the paint. West Chester also won the turnover battle (11-10) and finished the game with a 14-9 lead in points off turnovers.
Williams led the Golden Ram bench and all second-unit players in scoring with his 18 points as West Chester finished the game with a 29-2 lead in points off the bench.
West Chester also improved to 11-2 in games where it shoots north of 50 % from the field this season, as the team accomplished the feat for the third time in the last five games.
Up Next
West Chester will conclude its regular season next week with a road trip to Millersville at 7:30 before hosting East Stroudsburg on Saturday for Senior Night.
