After West Chester’s disappointing loss at Mansfield last Saturday, the Rams saw their playoff chances come to an end before their last two games of the season.West Chester went into the game knowing that they not only need to win out their last three games, but rely on the performance of a couple other conference teams if they wanted to find themselves in a post season position. They traveled to Mansfield for a must-win on Saturday.
West Chester lost to the Mountaineers in upsetting fashion after a shot off the hands of Tony Fannick beat the buzzer to give Mansfield the three-point edge over West Chester, 53-50.
The Rams beat Shippensburg after traveling to their court on Wednesday evening by a score of 92-84. The Raiders outscored the Rams in the second half, but West Chester had built a substantial enough lead in the first half to hold off Shippensburg.
Kehinde Roberts scored a team high 21 points in the game while Ralph Hegamin recorded his tenth double double of the year with 11 points and ten rebounds. Kenny St. George had 17 points while Harley Williamson had 18.
West Chester played their final game of the season against PSAC rival East Stroudsburg on Saturday afternoon inside Hollinger Field House where the Rams fell to the visiting Warriors 88-74.
Prior to the game West Chester honored the seniors that would be playing in their last games as Golden Rams. Ralph Hegamin, Kenny St. George, Isaiah McGhee, Sam Scott and Kevon Davis each stood at half court with their parents while they were recognized for their achievements as West Chester student athletes.
Ralph Hegamin has been a member of the first team All-PSAC East and has been strong for West Chester throughout his career as a Ram. He has averaged nearly a double-double per game and has ten on the season. He reached his career 1,000 point mark earlier in the season.
Kenny St. George was also a member of the first team All-PSAC East his junior year. He became the 21st player in school history to register 1,000 points in his junior year.
Isaiah McGhee walked onto the West Chester basketball team and became a valuable contributor to the Rams off the bench.
Sam Scott is an aggressive addition to West Chester’s lineup. He is an all conference member of the Golden Ram’s football team who brought energy to the basketball team as well.
Kevon Davis has played well for West Chester off the bench. He has had trouble staying healthy for the Rams, but when he was on the court, he was an asset to West Chester’s squad.
West Chester lost their final game of the season to East Stroudsburg by a score of 88-74. After finding themselves in an early lead, West Chester allowed East Stroudsburg to pull ahead and never look back. With 13:55 left in the first half, the Warriors gained the lead that West Chester was never able to reclaim.
The Warriors went into halftime with a nine point lead over the Rams and they were never able to bridge the gap by more than eight points before ultimately falling to their visitors.
Both West Chester and East Stroudsburg found themselves in foul trouble early after numerous questionable whistles had player after player going to the free throw line. The difference was, East Stroudsburg was sinking most of their free throw attempts while West Chester was struggling from their line.
The Warriors shot almost 90 percent from the free throw line on the game while West Chester only shot 50 percent. The Rams also struggled from behind the arc, only sinking 4 of the 14 attempts they took.
In his last game, Ralph Hegamin was the Rams leading scorer with 21 points. He also grabbed seven rebounds for the Rams. Elie Daniel added 17 points for the Rams while freshman Harley Williamson contributed 12.
Mike DeMarco was the leading scorer for the Warriors with 19 points while his teammate Andy Heimbach added another 18.
East Stroudsburg finished as the second seed in the PSAC East behind Mansfield and will play Cheyney in the first round of the playoffs. Cheyney is the third seed while Kutztown finishes at fourth. West Chester ended their season 16-11 overall and 5-9 in the conference as the sixth seed in the PSAC East.
The PSAC Tournament will begin on Tuesday, March 2nd at the higher seed’s campuses.
Amy Festa is a third-year student majoring in English with a minor in Journalism. She can be reached at AF649219@wcupa.edu.