Redshirt-freshman
Markus Frank drained a jumper at the buzzer Monday night to put the Shippensburg University men's basketball team past Chestnut Hill, 71-69, in a back-and-forth battle at Sorgenti Arena.
Shippensburg (3-1) overcame 13-point deficits in each half Monday night to achieve the victory over Chestnut Hill (0-5) and never held a lead in the game of more than two points. Frank finished with 14 points, while redshirt-junior
Ty Crespo poured in a team-high 15 points that included a 7-of-8 performance at the free-throw line.
The Griffins tied the game with seven seconds remaining on a second-chance layup after a missed three-pointer. After a timeout, a jumper by Crespo was blocked, but the Raiders got the rebound and called timeout with 1.3 seconds remaining.
On the ensuing in-bounds pass, an intended lob pass for junior
Kyle Whippen failed to connect, but the ball bounced on the court without a player touching it. Frank, who was being shadowed by a defender, ran to the loose ball, picked it up, and immediately unleashed a floating jump shot that hit nothing but net to send the Raider bench into a frenzy.
It capped off a contest that had been a steady exchange of scoring runs. With the score 10-9 early, Chestnut Hill embarked upon a 16-2 run to lead by 13 points, 25-12. SU countered with a 16-5 run to get within two points of the lead, 30-28, at the 5:57 mark. The Raiders climbed all the way back to lead at halftime, 38-37.
The hosts opened the second half on a 7-0 run to re-gain the lead by six. The game was back to a one-point affair at the 16:10 mark, 46-45, when Chestnut Hill went on a 10-0 run to stretch its lead to 11 points with 12:59 remaining. CHC later led by as many as 13 points once again, 60-47, with 9:41 left.
SU kept chipping away, as a 7-0 run helped get the Raiders within six points, 60-54, with 6:49 left. A three-pointer put the Griffins back up by nine, but an 8-0 run by Shippensburg got it within one, 65-64, with 2:40 left. Overall, it was an 18-4 run that got the Raiders back in position to complete the comeback.
With 1:22 remaining, junior
Satchel Ball drained a three-pointer to give SU the lead for the first time in the second half, 69-67. After an exchange of scoreless possessions, Donald Imo made the second-chance layup with seven seconds remaining to set up the frenzied final moments.
Whippen finished with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting and recorded a game-high 15 rebounds – the second-straight game he has posted double-digit rebounds. Junior
Michael Dunn was integral off the bench with 12 points, including three three-pointers in a two-minute stretch of the first half during SU's first rally.
Sophomore
Trey Martin contributed nine points on 3-of-5 shooting while Ball finished with eight points on 3-of-6 shooting. The Raiders were 17-of-26 (65 percent) at the free-throw line.
Chestnut Hill shot 44 percent from the field and got a game-high 19 points from Alejandro Cybak and a double-double from Neal Hill (10 points, 11 rebounds).
Shippensburg will now break for Thanksgiving and returns to action on Friday, Dec. 1 with a home match against IUP to open Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play.
