SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University men's basketball team had five players post double figures in scoring on Wednesday night as it posted a wire-to-wire victory over Bloomsburg, 93-60, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division contest from Heiges Field House.
Shippensburg (16-5, 10-3 PSAC) clinched a PSAC Tournament berth for the fifth consecutive season with Wednesday's victory. The Raiders opened the game on a 10-0 run and led by as many as 16 points late in the first half. SU started the second half on a 9-2 run to build a 20-point advantage with 17:52 remaining.
The rebounding battle was all Raiders on Wednesday, as Shippensburg posted a 51-30 edge on the glass. SU had 17 offensive rebounds and scored 20 second-chance points.
Sophomore
Jake Biss led the Raiders with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. Senior
Antonio Kellem also drained three three-pointers, contributing 17 points, four rebound and five assists. All six of the three-pointers from Biss and Kellem came in the first 9:34 of the game, as the Raiders raced out to a 24-10 lead.
Junior
John Castello grabbed his ninth double-double of the season (26th of career) with 15 points and a career-high 19 rebounds in just 27 minutes. Castello's 19 rebounds are the most by a Raider in a single game since
Dustin Sleva had 21 at Mansfield on Dec. 16, 2015.
Freshman
Dion Harris II scored 11 points off the bench on 4-of-6 shooting, adding six rebounds, an assist and a block. Harris equaled his career point total entering the night in his 13 minutes of action Wednesday.
For the third straight game and seventh time this season, redshirt-freshman
Dom Sleva finished in double figures. Sleva had 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting and added three rebounds. Freshman
Carlos Carter chipped in nine points, as the Raider bench out-scored the visiting bench 34-9 on the night.
Junior
Lamar Talley had five points, including a three-pointer, and four assists. Talley assisted on three of SU's four field goals during its game-opening 10-0 run. Redshirt-senior
Manny Span added four points and six rebounds.
Junior
Daylon Carter had two points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal, while redshirt-sophomore
Derek Ford scored two points and grabbed three rebounds. Ford has yet to miss from the field this season; he is 9-of-9 from the field (2-of-2 from three-point range) in his seven games of action.
Bloomsburg (5-13, 2-10 PSAC) got 23 points from Sekou Fofana, who was 10-of-12 at the free-throw line. Freshman Travis Elmore scored 10 points but fouled out in 19 minutes. The Huskies shot just 19 percent (3-of-16) from three-point range compared to a 31-percent (9-of-29) rate for the Raiders.
UP NEXT: Saturday, 3 p.m. at Kutztown.