The Shippensburg University men's basketball team used a late charge to get past Virginia Union in its 2021-22 season opener, defeating the Panthers 71-65 at the Trojan Tip-Off Classic hosted by Virginia State University.
 
Shippensburg (1-0) and Virginia Union (0-1) were tied 53-53 with 7:40 remaining when the Raiders used a 12-2 run to pull away. SU was 26-of-34 (76.5 percent) at the free-throw line, including 20-of-25 (80.0 percent) in the second half (17of-21 over the final seven minutes), and committed just nine turnovers.
 
Redshirt-freshman Andrew Recchia was among the players making their Raider debut Friday night and ended up leading the team in scoring, totaling 15 points in just 12 minutes of action. Recchia was 9-of-9 at the free-throw line and hit a key three-pointer during SU's second-half run.
 
SU had balanced scoring, as seven different players contributed at least seven points. Redshirt-junior Dom Sleva made his second collegiate start and finished with 13 points, a team-high nine rebounds and three assists. Junior Carlos Carter had 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
 
Senior Kiyon Hardy and redshirt-junior Rashon Johnson each contributed nine points; Hardy also had five assists.
 
Junior Luke Nedrow delivered seven points, eight rebounds, two steals and a career-high five blocks – SU finished the night with nine blocks. Freshman Michael Dunn contributed eight points off the bench, including a pair of three-pointers.
 
Virginia Union finished the night 2-of-16 from three-point range but grabbed 22 offensive rebounds that led to 15 second-chance points.
 
Shippensburg will face host Virginia State at 6 p.m. Saturday. The Trojans defeated Mansfield 101-73 on Friday night.