SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The No. 8 Shippensburg men's basketball team had four players score in double figures on Friday night as the Raiders won their 2017-18 season opener, posting a 65-53 victory over Shaw in Game 4 of the 2017 Wolf's Bus Lines Classic from Heiges Field House.
 
Shippensburg (1-0) rallied after a slow start to take down Shaw (0-1) in its first non-conference matchup of the season despite shooting just 4-of-16 from the three-point range in the first half.
 
After a back-and-forth first half, the Raiders would grab the lead on a three-pointer from senior Justin McCarthur with 2:32 before halftime. The Raiders would not trail for the rest of the game.
 
SU entered halftime with a five-point lead, and used a collective effort in the second half to hold on for the win. McCarthur led all scorers with a game-high 17 points in 36 minutes. Preseason All-American senior Dustin Sleva notched a double-double in the win, scoring 16 points and grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds.
 
Senior Clay Conner and junior Antonio Kellem were the other two Raiders to score in double figures tallying 11 and 13 points respectively. Connor made just his fifth career start and backed it up with six assists versus one turnover.
 
Junior Manny Span added eight points and seven rebounds off the bench for SU. Span grabbed multiple offensive rebounds in the closing stretches of the game that helped the Raiders put away the Bears.
 
Shippensburg finished the game 9-of-35 from three-point range but held its opposition to 1-of-13 from behind the arc. SU held a clear advantage in free-throw percentage, shooting 80 percent (12-of-15) as compared to Shaw who shot, 44.4 percent (4-of-9).
 
Shippensburg will return to action Saturday at 8 p.m. when it will take on Virginia Union in a NCAA Regional rematch inside Heiges Field House.