The West Chester men’s basketball team went 2-1 in its first week of play, defeating visiting non-conference foe University of the Sciences as well as PSAC West member Slippery Rock, while dropping an away game to nonconference opponent Philadelphia University.
The West Chester men’s basketball team kicked off its 2011-2012 season last Sunday evening with a convincing 62-53 victory over visiting University of Sciences of Philadelphia.
The Golden Rams were led by Lance McDowell who had a team-high 17 points to go along with six rebounds. Khalif Foster added 10 points, Gary Lawrence pulled down a team-high nine boards, and Jon Breeden dished out a team-high four assists.
West Chester took a 32-28 lead into halftime and came out firing in the second half scoring the first five points. University of Sciences answered right back with a 12-0 run of their own to take a three point lead. The contest remained close throughout the second half and was tied for the eighth time at 46-46 with 6:42 left to play.
The Golden Rams scored six straight and survived a late charge by the Devils to go on and win by nine. The Devils were led by the trio of Myer Messinger, William Kernan, and Garrett Kerr who scored 12 points each. Kerr pulled down 11 rebounds to record a double-double. The loss dropped the Devils to 0-1 for the season.
West Chester dropped its first road game of the season losing 71-59 to Philadelphia University last Tuesday night.
The Golden Rams were led on offense by Jon Breeden who scored 19 points and dished out three assists, both team-highs. He received little support on offense though as both Lance McDowell and Khalif Foster were both in foul trouble. McDowell, Foster, and Corey Blake each added eight points and Foster managed to pull down 11 rebounds.
The Golden Rams kept the home team close in the first half, going into halftime tied at 32, but Philadelphia University opened the second half on an 11-4 run. West Chester cut into their lead and eventually did tie the game again at 45 with just under 14 minutes to play, but the host opened up a 10 point lead and never looked back from there, ultimately winning by 12. West Chester went only 8 for 10 from the foul line while Philadelphia University went 21-26 from the charity stripe. Philadelphia University Rams put all five starters in double digits, led by Nick Schiltzer’s 23 points. Stephen Griffin added 10 to go along with a team-high 8 rebounds. Temi Adebayo also added 10 points but blocked 10 of West Chester’s shots. Nick Christian and Corey Francisco had 16 and 12 points respectively. The win for Philadelphia University improved their record to 1-1 for the season.
West Chester’s final opponent for the week was PSAC foe Slippery Rock, who they defeated 69-55 Saturday at Hollinger Field House. The Golden Rams were led by starters Lance McDowell and Jon Breeden who scored 17 and 11 points respectively. Corey Blake shot 6-7 from the field coming off the bench to add 14 points.
McDowell also added eight rebounds, which was a team-high and Breeden dished out six assists. Both teams started off a little sluggish with each team recording over 10 turnovers in the first half, but the tempo picked up as the first half progressed with the Golden Rams taking the lead into the locker room by the slim margin of 26-25.
In the second half, both teams came out aggressive trading punches until Blake hit a jumper with 11:44 left in the second half that put West Chester on top for good.
The Golden Rams out-scored Slippery Rock 43-30 in the second half, clearly outplaying the visiting team at both ends of the court. West Chester’s pressing defense forced Slippery Rock into committing a total of 19 turnovers. Slippery Rock was led by guards Aubin Reeves and Jon Valeriano who each scored 12 points. Devin Taylor led the team with 13 rebounds, including five on the offensive glass. The team recorded eight assists, which were spread out over five different players. The loss drops Slippery Rock to 1-1 for the season and 0-1 in the PSAC.
For the time being, West Chester will sit atop the PSAC tied for first with a conference record of 1-0. After facing Mercyhurst (2-1) in another PSAC showdown on Sunday, the Golden Rams have only one game over the next nine days. Tuesday, they will travel to Chestnut Hill (4-1) for a non-league game at 7 p.m. After that the Golden Rams get to rest up for a week before taking on Holy Family (3-1) the following Tuesday and won’t have another home game until they host Clarion University (1-3) to begin their PSAC conference play on Saturday Dec. 3.
Riley Wallace is a third-year student at West Chester University. He can be reached at RW718681@wcupa.edu.