SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University men's basketball team engaged in a back-and-forth affair with rival West Chester on Wednesday, exchanging the lead 15 times on the night, but the Raiders closed with 22 points in the final 3:38 to post a 91-86 victory over the Golden Rams in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division showdown from Heiges Field House.
Shippensburg (21-6, 15-4 PSAC) remains in third place in the PSAC East standings with one game remaining. A victory on Saturday and an ESU loss at Millersville would result in a first-round bye for the Raiders and a Wednesday night home game. A Warrior victory or a Raider loss would lead to a Monday night home game for the Raiders.
SU made a season-high 13 three-pointers, shooting 43 percent from long range. West Chester (20-7, 16-4), the nation's leader in offensive rebounds, grabbed 19 on the night that led to 17 second-chance points. The Golden Rams hit eight threes of their own, and shot 78 percent at the free-throw line.
Sophomore
Jake Biss led all scorers with a career-high 32 points, shooting 11-of-17 from the field including 4-of-6 from three-point range and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Biss added six assists and four rebounds. Eighteen of Biss's 32 points came in the second half.
Senior
Antonio Kellem scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half, finishing with four three-pointers, six rebounds and four assists. Junior
Lamar Talley also made four three-pointers to finish with 12 points.
Redshirt-senior
Manny Span had eight points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals. Span posted double-digit rebounds in a game for the third time in his career. Junior
John Castello had seven points and seven rebounds, while redshirt-freshman
Dom Sleva chipped in with seven points off the bench.
Among the many back-and-forth runs in the game occurred at the end of the first half, when West Chester closed on an 8-0 run to take a 38-37 lead into the intermission. WCU ran its lead to nine with 14:43 remaining, but the Raiders chipped away. A 17-3 run eventually flipped an eight-point deficit into a six-point lead for the Raiders, 66-60, with 8:26 remaining.
The Golden Rams eventually wrestled the lead back again, 70-69, on a three-pointer by Malik Jackson with 3:55 left. SU immediately countered with an 8-0 run, including threes by Kellem and Biss, to claim a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the way. The Golden Rams got within three points on multiple occasions in the final minute, but SU managed to hit enough free throws to stem the tide.
UP NEXT: Saturday, 3 p.m. at Bloomsburg.
