The Shippensburg University men's basketball team could not overcome an inauspicious start to its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament First Round game at Shepherd on Monday night, as the Raiders dropped a 78-62 decision to the Rams in action at the Butcher Athletic Center.
Shippensburg (10-19) fell behind 22-6 after the opening six minutes and could not reduce its deficit below double digits during the first half. The Raiders trailed by 17 points, 39-22, with 1:46 left in the first half but closed on a 5-0 run to get within 12 by halftime,
The script continued to be flipped during the first five minutes of the second half, as a 17-7 run was capped by a pair of three-pointers from junior
Timmy Conner.
Shippensburg had gotten within two points of the lead, 46-44, with 14:38 remaining.
Shepherd (19-10) immediately countered, however, and put the game away with a decisive 21-5 spurt over the next seven minutes. The second long-distance barrage of the game featured the hosts making 5-of-6 three-point attempts during the run.
Overall, Shepherd was 17-of-35 (48.6 percent) from three-point range in the game, marking a season high and just one fewer than the most in a game by a PSAC team this season. The Rams started out 6-of-8 from three-point range in the game's first seven minutes and committed just two turnovers during the first half.
Conner and junior
Trey Martin each paced the Raiders with 17 points. Martin was 6-of-11 from the field (2-of-4 from three-point range) and finished one point short of his career high. He added three rebounds and a career-high three steals. Conner was 4-of-8 from three-point range.
Freshman
Jaydon Smith scored 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting and finished with three rebounds and two assists.
Junior
Denzel Figueroa finished with nine points and seven rebounds; he made all four of his field-goal attempts. Redshirt-sophomore
Markus Frank grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, his third straight game with double-digit rebounds, but was held to a career-low two points.
Frank finished the 2024-25 campaign with 567 points, sixth-most in SU single-season history.
Shepherd got a game-high 24 points from Carson Poffenberger, who was 9-of-13 from the floor and 6-of-8 from three-point range. Poffenberger added seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Brody Davis made four three-pointers and had 14 points, while forward Chase Paar had a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. Point guard Marcus Banks had 10 assists – nine of which came in the first half.
It was the second game between the two teams at the Butcher Center in the last five days; Shepherd won 58-44 last Wednesday.
