SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University men's basketball team overcame a five-point deficit with five minutes remaining in the season opener on Saturday to defeat Virginia Union, 65-60, in an exciting matchup of reigning NCAA Tournament teams held at Heiges Field House as part of the 2018 Wolf's Bus Lines Classic.
Shippensburg (1-0) got all 65 points from its five starters, each of whom posted double figures. Juniors
John Castello and
Lamar Talley each posted a team-high 16 points, with Talley achieving a new career high with Saturday's performance.
Senior
Antonio Kellem scored 12 points, making him the newest Raider to surpass the 1,000-point plateau. Kellem now has 1,004 career points in 87 games at Shippensburg.
Sophomore point guard
Jake Biss made his first career start and finished with 11 points and a career-high eight assists. Redshirt-senior
Manny Span had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Shippensburg was 11-of-12 (91.7 percent) from the free-throw line, but more importantly 8-of-8 at the charity stripe in the game's decisive final five minutes. SU closed the game on an 18-8 run, with Castello draining a three-point with 1:14 remaining that extended the Raider lead to five points. Castello scored on three straight possessions in the final 2:23, making two free throws and a go-ahead jumper before his pivotal trifecta.
Virginia Union (0-1) trailed by as many as 13 points late in the first half but used a 12-3 run early in the second half to tie the score at 35-35 with 12:51 remaining. The Panthers then had a 10-2 run to lead by eight points, 48-40, with 8:56 remaining. Demarius Pitts led all players with 20 points on 9-of-17 shooting.
SU had a 27-18 lead at halftime, as it committed just one foul and two turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. The contrasting styles of the two teams was most evident in three-point attempts, as SU had 38 compared to just nine for VUU.
UP NEXT: Sunday, 5 p.m. vs. Lincoln.
