Box Score

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Five players scored in double figures on Friday night as the Shippensburg University men's basketball team opened its 2012-13 season with a thrilling 86-83 overtime victory over Chestnut Hill in the nightcap on the opening day of the Wolf's Bus Lines Classic.

Sophomore point guard Reggie Charles went 11-of-14 from the free throw line and led Shippensburg with 18 points and six assists. Making his first career star, sophomore Akil Anderson impressed with clutch late buckets to finish with career highs of 13 points and eight rebounds.

In their first collegiate games, the freshmen trio of Joe Lococo, Jay Hardy and Tony Ellis combined for 32 points and 18 rebounds. Lococo (15 points) and Ellis (game-high 12 rebounds) each earned the start, while Hardy chipped in with 10 points off the bench. 

Redshirt-freshman Tyhiem Perrin also made his debut for the Raiders (1-0), playing 27 minutes off the bench and finishing with eight points and 11 rebounds, including several clutch boards late in the contest.

Junior Dylan Edgar went 4-of-9 from the field to record 13 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes of action.

SU was down for nearly the entire first half – including as many as nine points with 5:35 left – before closing on a 6-0 run in the final 1:09 and taking the lead with two made Hardy free throws with three seconds left in the half.

The Raiders held the lead into the second half, eventually extending it all the way up to 15 thanks to two Lococo free throws with 7:40 remaining. An 8-0 Chestnut Hill (1-1) run cut the Shippensburg lead to 64-61 with under three minutes left, however.

A clutch Anderson jumper with 28 ticks on the clock put the Raiders back up by five, 75-70, but a Griffin and-1 play on their next possession and a steal and a dunk with 13 seconds left eventually sent the game into overtime after SU's tip-in attempts at the buzzer failed to fall through the net.

After an early CHC three-pointer in the first possession of the overtime, the Raiders rallied off three straight buckets to go up 76-73. They extended their lead to as many as seven with just over a minute left, but Shippensburg allowed another late Chestnut Hill run. After an Anderson free throw with six seconds on the clock, the Griffons missed a potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer.

The Raiders will wrap up the Wolf's Bus Lines Classic on Saturday night with an 8 p.m. tipoff against Salem International.