The Shippensburg men's basketball team got double-doubles Sunday from junior Dustin Sleva and freshman John Castello as it opened the second half on a 20-6 run to defeat Seton Hill, 76-69, in a conference crossover contest from the McKenna Center.
 
Shippensburg (7-0, 4-0 PSAC) trailed at halftime for the first time this season, as Seton Hill (5-3, 2-2) held a 36-35 advantage at the intermission. Junior Justin McCarthur opened the second half with a three-pointer and scored 10 points (including three trifectas) during SU's decisive run that transformed a one-point deficit to a 55-42 lead.
 
SU would lead by as many as 16 points with 4:01 to play before the Griffins got within single digits down the stretch. McCarthur made a pair of free throws with 22 seconds to play for the only SU points of the final four minutes, but the team's large lead was too big for Seton Hill to overcome.
 
For the second straight game, the Raiders took full advantage of their trips to the free-throw line. SU was 11-of-11 at the free-throw line in the first half and finished Sunday's game 21-of-25 (84 percent). Combining its effort Saturday at IUP, Shippensburg was 57-of-65 (87.7 percent) at the free-throw line in a pair of conference road wins this weekend.
 
Sleva was a monster once again – leading all players with a season-high 25 points and 15 rebounds for his sixth double-double in seven games. He was 8-of-15 from the field, made 8-of-8 at the free-throw line, and had as many offensive rebounds (six) as Seton Hill did for the entire contest.
 
Castello finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds and had reached his double-double by the first media timeout of the second half. He was 3-of-5 from the field, including a three-pointer, and 4-of-4 at the free-throw line.
 
McCarthur finished with 17 points, making four three-pointers, and was 5-of-7 at the free-throw line. He has now made at least three three-pointers in each of SU's last three games.
 
Senior Abe Massaley scored 18 points, grabbed six rebounds, had three assists and two steals. Massaley was 6-of-11 from the field, including 2-of-4 from three-point range, and made all four of his free-throw attempts.
 
Sophomore Antonio Kellem had just three points but provided seven rebounds and three assists. Senior Chris Nwandu contributed two points, two assists and two blocks off the bench.
 
The Raiders have won their first four conference games in a season for the first time since a 10-0 start against the Western Division back in the 2005-06 campaign.
 
Shippensburg returns to action at 5 p.m. Saturday when it travels to California for a conference matchup with the Vulcans.