ETTRICK, Va. – The Shippensburg University men's basketball team had its longest postseason run in school history come to an end on Tuesday night in the 2018 NCAA Atlantic Region Championship Game, as the Raiders came up short against vaunted rival East Stroudsburg, falling 84-72 in action from the Virginia State University Multi-Purpose Center.
 
Shippensburg (25-8) and East Stroudsburg (27-5) were tied with 4:52 remaining in Tuesday's game, but the Warriors closed on a 17-5 run to achieve their first regional championship in school history. It was the third meeting of the year between the two Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division rivals; the two teams split during the regular season.
 
Prior to the final tie, the two teams exchanged the lead five times. The Raiders led by as many as six points early in the second half.
 
Senior Justin McCarthur scored a game-high 20 points, making 4-of-6 from three-point range, and finished with seven assists – one short of his career high. McCarthur was named to the Atlantic Region All-Tournament Team; in three games he scored 74 points (24.7 ppg), made 16-of-24 three-pointers (67 percent), shot 58 percent from the field overall, and totaled 14 assists.  
 
Senior Dustin Sleva finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Sleva was also named to the Atlantic Region All-Tournament Team; in three games he scored 54 points (18 ppg), grabbed 33 rebounds (11 rpg), shot 50 percent from the field and had 14 assists.
 
Senior Clay Conner scored nine points, totaled two assists and did not commit a turnover in his final collegiate contest. He was 5-of-5 at the free-throw line.
 
Junior Manny Span was tremendous off the bench for Shippensburg in Tuesday's game, tying his career high with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting to go along with five rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes of action.
 
Junior Antonio Kellem finished with 11 points, three rebounds and three assists. He will enter his senior season just eight points shy of reaching 1,000 for his career.
 
SU trailed by just three at halftime despite being held without a point for a 4:45 stretch of the first half and without a field goal for an 8:45 stretch. Kellem made a layup at the 18:22 mark, but the Raiders were then limited to just four free throws until Kellem hit a jumper with 9:37 left in the frame. The Warriors went on a 14-4 run during that stretch.
 
Trailing by eight points with 6:06 left in the half, Span converted back-to-back layups and hit a pair of free throws to produce a 6-0 run for the Raiders. McCarthur hit SU's lone three-pointer of the first half at the 3:03 mark to stave off four straight points by the Warriors.
 
The Raiders opened the second half on a 10-1 run to take a 41-35 lead with 16:49 remaining. That run prefaced a flurry of buckets from the two teams – during the next four-minute stretch of play the squads combined for 24 points and 11-of-17 shooting (64.7 percent).
 
ESU used a 7-0 run to lead by eight points, 64-56, with 7:51 remaining. SU countered with a 9-0 run to take its final lead of the game, 65-64, with 6:06 left. SU converted seven consecutive free throws during the run.
 
Shippensburg shot 44 percent overall but just 29 percent from three-point range, tying a season low with just six three-pointers. ESU shot 48 percent – including 59 percent in the second half. The Warriors got 48 points from their bench, as three men off the bench contributed to a group of five players that reached double figures. Josh Williams led ESU with 16 points and eight boards.  
 
The Raiders shot 18-of-22 (82 percent) at the free-throw line, concluding their season with an 80.6 free-throw percentage (495-of-614). That mark is a new PSAC single-season record, and ranks 10th all-time in Division II single-season history per the most recent edition of the NCAA record books.
 
Shippensburg also set new single-season school records for total points (2,666), three-pointers (345) and assists (544). The points and three-pointers records were set by last season's squad, while the 1990-91 team totaled 530 assists.  
 
The loss concludes the playing careers of a senior class that redefined the Shippensburg University men's basketball program. Conner, McCarthur and Sleva compiled an 85-35 career record – including a 52-12 record over the last two seasons – SU's two winningest years in school history.
 
In addition to boasting the most wins of any senior class in SU history, head coach Chris Fite's three seniors combined for 4,332 points, 1534 rebounds, 953 assists, 574 three-pointers, 1,028 free throws and a combined 80.6 free-throw percentage.
 
Sleva concludes his career as Shippensburg's all-time leading scorer (2,071 points – eighth in PSAC history), all-time leading rebounder (1,140 – tenth in PSAC history), and all-time leader in double-doubles (58). He is one of four players in PSAC history (only at SU) with at least 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. His 706 points this season breaks his own school record set last season, and ranks 11th in PSAC single-season history. It is the most by a PSAC player in a season since Kutztown's Stephen Dennis scored 817 points eight years ago.
 
McCarthur concludes his career as Shippensburg's all-time leader in three-pointers (291 – ninth in PSAC history), SU's single-season record holder in career three-pointers (101 last season), and with a pair of single-game records: three-point accuracy (9-of-9 this season vs. ESU, also a PSAC record) and free-throw percentage (15-of-15 vs. Bloomsburg this season). His 1,650 career points rank fourth all-time at Shippensburg. The 3,721 combined points between Sleva and McCarthur make them one of the Top 5 pairs of highest-scoring teammates in league history.
 
Conner concludes his career with 611 points, 285 assists, 96 three-pointers and an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.1. Starting all 33 games this season after making just three starts in his previous three seasons, Conner achieved new single-season bests this year in points (277), assists (151), three-pointers (49), steals (23) and rebounds (60).