The West Chester University men’s basketball team opened their PSAC East conference play with a pair of convincing home wins over Millersville and Bloomsburg this past week. The Golden Rams defeated the Marauders 93-67 and then pasted the Huskies by a 78-57 margin to sprint out a 2-0 PSAC East record. Junior forward/center Ralph Hegamin led the charge for the Golden Rams in Wednesday night’s tilt against Millersville. The Virginia native scored 22 points on the strength of 9-13 shooting from the field. Millersville simply could not contain Hegamin as he simply had his way with the Marauders. He dominated down in the post and showed a nice outside scoring touch, as evidenced by his 2-2 shooting from three-point land.
“The thing that makes Ralph so difficult to defend is that he’s so versatile,” said WCU head coach Damien Blair. “He can beat smaller players down low and if the other team tries to stick someone bigger on him, he’s quick enough and a good enough shooter to take them outside.”
Hegamin also showed that he isn’t a one-trick pony. He added 12 rebounds, two assists and two blocks as he continues to build a case for PSAC Player of the Year.
Junior swingman Kehinde Roberts also had an excellent game. Roberts shot 6-12 from the field for 16 points and added four assists, two steals and a block. Kenneth St. George also scored 16 points in his return from injury. The junior guard had missed the previous five games with a concussion.
As has become the custom in coach Blair’s short tenure at WCU, the Golden Rams did a great job on defense. They were able to hold Millersville to a paltry 37.5 percent shooting from the field and also out-rebounded the Marauders 45-29. The Golden Rams also did an excellent job of bottling up Millersville’s Reggie Bates. Bates came into the game averaging 17.9 points per game, but was held to only 11. Bates was hounded and harassed all game and ended up shooting just 3-8 from the field.
“We didn’t initially come out with enough defensive intensity,” said Roberts. “However, as the game went on, I thought we did a good job of picking up the intensity and we did a better job on defense.”
The Golden Rams saw the offensive contributions expand beyond the usual suspects. A total of 13 different players notched at least a single point.
Oft-injured junior Kevon Davis had a breakout game with 11 points and five rebounds in only 15 minutes of action and point guard Sandy Tanner also had a stellar effort with eight points, six rebounds, five assists and a steal. Tanner has done a good job of handling the reins of the team at the point guard position as a freshman.
On Saturday, the Golden Rams hosted the Bloomsburg Huskies. Unfortunately for the Huskies, the Golden Rams were not very gracious hosts as they crushed Bloomsburg 78-57.
St. George led the way for the Golden Rams with 19 points as he was one of four Golden Rams players to score at least a dozen points. Guard Anthony Haley had a huge game as he scored 17 points on 7-13 shooting. Haley also had eight rebounds and five assists.
Despite being down early against the Huskies, the Golden Rams settled down and rode an 18-8 run over the last five or so minutes of the first half to a 38-29 halftime lead. The Golden Rams were extremely hot shooting the ball as they hit on 48.3 percent of their attempts in the first half.
Bloomsburg would try to chip away at the Golden Rams’ lead, but WCU also got big contributions from Hegamin (12 points, six rebounds, two steals) and Greg Maugle (six points, two rebounds) to close out Bloomsburg. The Golden Rams’ three-point shooting was ultimately the key to the win as they connected on 40.9 percent of their attempts.
The Golden Rams will continue their rigorous PSAC East schedule on Wednesday night with a huge rivalry game against cross-town rival Cheyney University. Cheyney won both meetings in the 07-08 season including a 91-73 decision at Cheyney. The memory of these two losses will undoubtedly serve as motivation for the Golden Rams.
Matt Chandik is a fourth-year student majoring in Spanish with a minor in Journalism. He can be reached at MC618553@wcupa.edu.