The Shippensburg University men's basketball team was held to a season low in scoring Wednesday night as it dropped a 58-46 decision at Shepherd in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division matchup at the Butcher Athletic Center.
 
Despite the loss, Shippensburg (9-18, 6-14 PSAC East) clinched a spot in the upcoming PSAC Tournament as it secured the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Division by virtue of Kutztown's loss Wednesday night at East Stroudsburg.
 
Shepherd (17-10, 13-7) shot just 32.8 percent from the field; the Rams attempted an overwhelming 38 three-pointers and made nine (23.7 percent). The 58 points scored by the Rams match the fewest allowed by the Raiders in a game this season, however, SU's 46 points scored are its fewest in a game since scoring 44 in a 2022 PSAC Tournament loss at IUP.
 
Redshirt-sophomore Markus Frank paced the Raiders with his second double-double of the season, scoring 18 points and equaling his season high with 11 rebounds. Both of Frank's 11-rebound games this season came against the Rams. He also recorded four steals, one shy of his season high.
 
Freshman Jaydon Smith finished with nine points and six rebounds. Junior Jalen Bowie had eight points, four rebounds and two steals. Junior Denzel Figueroa was held scoreless but grabbed eight rebounds.
 
Junior Timmy Conner totaled seven points and hit SU's only three-pointer of the night; the Raiders finished 1-of-16 (6.3 percent) overall from beyond the arc.
 
Shippensburg was held to 29-percent shooting. Shepherd's field-goal percentage defense (39.5) ranks seventh in the nation.
 
The Rams got a double-double from Chase Paar (16 points, 13 rebounds) and 12 points from Carson Poffenberger. Shepherd out-rebounded the Raiders by nine (53-44).  
 
The game had just 17 total fouls; the two teams combined for only four fouls (two each) in the first half. No player from either team finished with more than three fouls, while all but one of the Rams committed just one foul or less. As a result, there were only 18 combined free-throw attempts.
 
Shippensburg will complete its regular season at 3 p.m. Saturday when it hosts Mansfield at Heiges Field House.