SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University men's basketball team defeated Wilmington, 81–77, in a thrilling game that needed overtime to decide a winner on Wednesday night in Heiges Field House.
 
Shippensburg (2-1) came out on top in an even matchup that that had 16 ties and nine lead changes. Redshirt-freshman Markus Frank set his career high with 27 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and 10-of-14 from the line. Redshirt-junior Ty Crespo's 22 points came on 7-of-14 shooting with a career-high five threes. This was Crespo's second consecutive 20-point game.
 
Junior Kyle Whippen was a force in the paint with a career-high 19 rebounds and four blocks. His 10 points were good enough for his first career double-double and went along with a career-high four assists. His 19 rebounds are 11 more than he had ever recorded; Wednesday was his 65th collegiate contest.
 
Sophomore Trey Martin scored a career-high 12 points, and senior Ty Holsopple scored a career-high six points and recorded the first two blocks in his career.
 
It was a high-energy start as both teams exchanged scores throughout the first half. A three by Wilmington (0–3) kicked off the scoring, and the sides traded baskets until the Wildcats took a 10-6 lead at the 14:27 mark.
 
After a flurry of free throws by Wilmington, the Raiders hit a 12–2 scoring run to take a 25–20 lead with 7:26 left. Crespo and Frank hit consecutive threes to cap off the run.
 
The Wildcats ended a 2:43 scoring drought with a three to cut the Raiders' lead to one possession. The Raiders ran their lead back to six points with a layup by Frank, but the Wildcats scored the next eight points in the game to take a 35-33 lead with 2:27 remaining in the first half.
 
Sophomore Timmy Conner worked his way to a tough basket to tie the game at 37–37, but Taalib Holloman hit a three at the other end to send the game to half with the Raiders down 40–37.
 
An early three in the half by Lameen Carter gave the Wildcats a two-possession advantage. Wilmington took a six-point lead before Frank scored six straight to tie the game at 48–48 with 14:06 remaining. There were five lead changes over the next 10 minutes of play as both sides traded scores until a 63–61 Wilmington lead.
 
Tied 66–66 with 1:06 left in regulation, graduate Andrew Recchia made a sweet pass to Martin cutting on the baseline to give the Raiders the lead. The Wildcats answered right back at the other end to tie the game with 33 seconds left and the game ended up in overtime.
 
Shippensburg held an early one-possession lead in overtime. With a 71–69 lead, Amiri Stewart gave Wilmington the lead with a big and-one conversion with three minutes left. A quick three on the next possession made it a four-point lead for the Wildcats.
 
Crespo hit his fifth three of the night in response to make it a one-point game and Martin's first three-pointer of the night tied the game at 77–77 with 1:09 remaining. A free throw by Crespo gave the Raiders the lead with 37 seconds remaining and big defensive stands on the Wildcats' next two possessions and four free throws put the game to bed.
 
SU travels to take on Chestnut Hill at 7 p.m. Monday.