EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg men's basketball team finished the regular season strong on Wednesday night by beating East Stroudsburg, 67-59, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division matchup from Koehler Field House.
SU (23-3, 19-3 PSAC) was stellar defensively, limiting East Stroudsburg to a season-low 59 points. It was the lowest point total by an East Stroudsburg team since Jan. 31, 2015, when the Warriors scored 58 points at Millersville – a span of 62 games.
East Stroudsburg (17-9, 15-6) made just 35.4 percent of its shots on the night, including a 2-of-17 (12 percent) mark from beyond the arc. SU finishes the regular season having limited opponents to 28.9 percent shooting on three-point shots – the best three-point defense in the PSAC and a Top 5 mark nationally.
Junior
Dustin Sleva was fantastic again, totaling 24 points and 11 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the season. His put-back on a missed SU three-pointer with 45 seconds remaining put the Raiders up six points, effectively cementing the victory.
Neither team shot the ball well in the first half as SU made 9-of-28 field goal attempts (32.1 percent) while ESU converted just 10-of-35 shots from the field (28.6 percent). However, the Raiders did make five three-pointers to the Warriors's one, leading to a three-point SU edge at intermission.
SU bounced back by shooting 56 percent (14-of-25) in the second half while outscoring ESU, 40-35. Freshman
John Castello turned in his seventh double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. In his first start since Jan. 21, sophomore
Antonio Kellem scored 10 points, including a pair of three-pointers.
The Raiders finish the regular season with their fewest losses in school history and are just one win shy of tying the single-season record for victories (24-7 in 2005-06). SU has scored 2,196 points, third-most in single-season history and sits 200 points shy of the school record. The team has shattered the school record for three-pointers (262; 58 more than in any other season) and is on pace to break several other marks.
Shippensburg will be off on Saturday while the rest of the PSAC East finishes the conference schedule. SU, which will be the No. 2 seed in the PSAC East, has a bye on Monday, Feb. 27 for the first round of the PSAC Tournament and will host a PSAC Quarterfinal game at Heiges Field House on March 1 beginning at 7:30 p.m.
NOTE: In the most recent edition of the NCAA Atlantic Region rankings released Wednesday, SHIP dropped from No. 2 to No. 5 in the Atlantic Region (rankings
HERE). The NCAA regional rankings are used to determine the teams that qualify for the NCAA Tournament in March. Eight teams from each of the eight regions will advance to the NCAA Tournament following conference championships. The Atlantic Region is comprised of three conferences: the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), the Mountain East Conference (MEC) and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). Each conference champion will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, regardless of its position in the rankings.
