SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg men's basketball team hung close for most of Tuesday night's game but visiting West Chester pulled away late in an 83-68 loss in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) matchup at Heiges Field House.
 
Shippensburg (4-3, 1-3 PSAC) continually battled to keep within striking distance of the Golden Rams, but could not draw closer than six points in a back-and-forth second half.
 
Leading the way for Shippensburg was another outstanding outing by junior Abe Massaley. The Raider guard exploded for a career-high 31 points on 9-of-16 shooting. He made 11-of-13 attempts from the line.
 
Massaley's 30-point game is the first by an SU player since Dylan Edgar had 31 points vs. Lock Haven on Jan. 21 of this year.
 
For the fourth time in six games sophomore Dustin Sleva recorded a double-double. Tuesday he finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Freshman Antonio Kellem scored eight points on 3-of-5 shooting.

Senior Jay Hardy made a free throw to cut West Chester's lead to 70-64 with 5:35 remaining, but the Golden Rams outscored SU 13-4 to close out the game.
 
Tuesday's game was a tale of two halves as both teams shot better than 52 percent from the field in the first half before both shooting worse than 32 percent in the second.
 
SU and WCU combined to make 15-of-24 3-pointers in the first half. However, in the second half West Chester made 4-of-14 tries from deep while the Raiders missed all seven attempts.
 
The 29 points scored by West Chester (6-0, 4-0) in the second half was the fewest in a half by the Golden Rams this season. WCU has topped 80 points in all six games this season, but the Raiders were able to limit the Golden Rams to 31 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes.
 
The Raiders return to action Friday when they host IUP at 7:30 p.m. from Heiges Field House.