SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University men's basketball team had eight players score eight or more points Wednesday night, including five reaching double figures, in a 102-78 conquest of Bloomsburg in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division matchup from Heiges Field House.
Shippensburg (13-3, 9-1 PSAC) shot 53 percent from the field, including 44 percent (8-of-18) from three-point range. The Raiders – the most accurate free-throw shooting team in the PSAC – were sent to the line 27 times Wednesday and made 22 of those attempts (81.5 percent).
The score was tied 34-34 with 4:50 left in the first half when SU closed on a 14-4 run to take a 48-38 lead into the intermission. Bloomsburg (7-9, 4-6) got within seven points of the lead with 12:46 to play before Shippensburg went on a 17-5 run over the next four minutes to lead by 19.
SU led by as many as 29 points down the stretch, as it out-scored BU by a 31-9 margin from the 12:46 mark to the 4:23 mark of the second half.
Senior
John Castello scored 22 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for his third double-double in the last four games. Castello was 7-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-3 from three-point range, and 8-of-8 at the free-throw line. It is the 12th time in his career he scored 20 or more points in a game. He finished two points shy of his career high.
Junior
Jake Biss scored 14 points and handed out seven assists while committing just one turnover. Senior
Lamar Talley had nine points, six rebounds and three assists without a turnover. Sophomores
Luke Nedrow and
Carlos Carter each scored eight points.
Shippensburg got a season-high 41 points from its bench. Redshirt-sophomore
Dom Sleva had 15 points and five rebounds, reaching double figures for the seventh time this season. Junior
Kiyon Hardy had 13 points, four rebounds and two assists, reaching double figures for the fourth time this season. Senior
Daylon Carter scored 13 points to complement three rebounds and three assists; it was his fifth career double-digit game.
The SU trio of Sleva, Hardy and
Daylon Carter combined to shoot 15-of-28 (53.6 percent) from the field, including 3-of-8 (37.5) percent from three-point range, and went 8-of-9 (88.8 percent) at the free-throw line.
The Raiders also equaled a season high with 50 points in the paint, and scored at least 20 points off turnovers for the third straight game. Wednesday marked SU's most points in a game since Nov. 20, 2016 when it defeated Edinboro, 105-73.
Bloomsburg did manage the third-most points against the Raiders this season; it was just the fourth time all season that Shippensburg allowed more than 70 or more points in a game. Ky Mauras led the visitors with 22 points. Max Wagner scored 16 points, while Travis Elmore and Justin Rodriguez each had 11 points.
Shippensburg travels to Seton Hill on Saturday for a 3 p.m. clash with the Griffins. Monitor the SU athletics website, www.shipraiders.com, in the event of any changes to the schedule due to weekend weather.
