The West Chester men’s basketball team prepares for the final regular season game as they take on nationally ranked East Stroudsburg on Wednesday. West Chester is 18-7 on the season, and 11-4 in the conference which is good enough for second in the PSAC, and a playoff home game, including a bye.
East Stroudsburg has already clinched the number one seed for the PSAC tournament that starts on Mar. 4. West Chester has already clinched a two seed for the tournament and both teams will receive byes, meaning that Wednesday’s game has the potential to be the PSAC Championship game in a couple of weeks.
The first time that the Rams took on East Stroudsburg, it was on the Rams’ floor, and the Warriors took the win 107-94 in a very fast paced, entertaining game. West Chester fought hard in that game, but at one point took the lead with about four minutes to go, however, the Warriors closed the game out on a 22-3 run, allowing the score not to dictate how close the game actually was.
The leading scorers in that game for the Golden Rams were Troy Hockaday and Shannon Givens who had 28 and 20 points, respectively. Hockaday also had seven points and four assists. For the Warriors, the leading scorer was Whis Grant who had 31 points. The Golden Rams will look to play a little bit better defense and sneak out of East Stroudsburg with a big resume win.
Over the past two weeks the Golden Rams played three games, winning all three, and bouncing back from the tough home loss against Kutztown. The first game was against a very good Lock Haven team, who gave East Stroudsburg their only loss of the season. West Chester knew they were tough since the last time they played them the game went into overtime, a game that the Rams squeezed out with a win. In this game, it was much of the same, very close, and back and forth all game long, and this game also went into overtime.
At the end of the first half the score was knotted up at 40 apiece. Cory Blake and Hockaday were leading the Rams with nine points each. The key component that was keeping Lock Haven in the game was the fact that they were able to get to the free throw line in the first half, attempting 15 free throws to West Chester’s five.
In the second half, it was more of the same, back and forth, again ended the second half each with 37 points, and the game tied at 77 heading into overtime. The game was tied at 77 with over a minute left to play in regulation and neither team could get anything to fall, each team having at least two shots at the basket. Overtime went back and forth until there were about two minutes left in the period, and West Chester grabbed a three point lead off back-to-back layups, a lead they would not relinquish. The Eagles had one last shot to tie the game at 87 when Al Blount missed a three pointer as time expired, and West Chester was able to pick up a big win, 87-84.
The leaders for both teams were Hockaday with 17 points, Matt Wiseley had nine rebounds, and Givens had five assists. For the Eagles, Wali Hepburn had 23 points, Bootsie Walker had eight rebounds, and Hepburn also added six assists.
Next up for Golden Rams was Senior Day, as it was the last regular season home game ever for six seniors. All seniors contributed in a lopsided victory over a struggling Shippensburg team. The seniors included Rasheed Wilkins who had four points in a limited role, Shannon Givens who had thirteen points and four assists, Troy Hockaday who had 11 points and nine rebounds, Tom Sharkey, who scored the first basket of the game in a limited role, Ryan McKeany, who had a big day leading the Rams with 14 points and seven rebounds, and finally, R.J. Griffin, who also had 14 points in the Golden Rams’ victory over Shippensburg 74-60. Shippensburg never led in the entire game.
The final game on this three-game stretch was on the road against a good Bloomsburg team, who was fighting for the first round bye that the Golden Rams now have. With coach Blair messing with the starting lineup from game to game, this one seemed to work well as West Chester got off to a hot start, heading into halftime with a 35-25 advantage. The reason for that was Ben Mingledough who was huge off the bench scoring nine points before half, on 4-4 shooting.
In the second half West Chester never let their lead get below nine, as they were efficient from the floor and played good defense allowing them to win a key game, 81-68. With this win the Rams clinched a playoff berth, a second seed in the tournament, a first round bye, and also a home playoff game. They showed up when it mattered most.
The leaders for the Bloomsburg game were Blake with 20 points and Hockaday with nine rebounds and five assists. For Bloomsburg Dontahe Jordan had 16 points, Alssene Saintilus had eight rebounds, and Andrew Morgan had three assists.
This game against East Stroudsburg virtually means nothing for either team. However, due to the fact that they are the number one and number two seeds, they might be playing to show each other what team really is the better team.
Ryan Calpin is a second-year student majoring in Communication Studies with a minor in Journalism. He can be reached at RC784188@wcupa.edu.