West Chester University men’s basketball team fought off Bloomsburg University in a fast paced, high scoring affair, 99-89 on Tuesday night.
The West Chester University men’s basketball team prepared for a 7:30 p.m. start time against Bloomsburg University on Tuesday night for a quarterfinal PSAC playoff game. West Chester has faced Bloomsburg twice this season, and they split the season series. Bloomsburg won the first matchup at West Chester on a game-winning dunk with six seconds left. West Chester then bounced back and beat Bloomsburg on their home floor late in the season, 81-68.
This matchup was the tiebreaker, as the winner would be heading to East Stroudsburg for the weekend to play Gannon University at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and the loser would be heading home with their season over.
West Chester came into the game sporting an 18-8 record, where as the visiting Huskies were 16-11. West Chester was the No.2 seed in the East, where Bloomsburg was the No.3 seed.
The game started off with a lot of fouls, and a lot of scoring from the charity stripe. Both teams combined for 25 first half fouls, as the Huskies attempted 21 free throws, and the Golden Rams 19. With this many fouls, both coaches were forced to repeatedly use the bench, as nine players were used for the Golden Rams and 11 players used for the Huskies. As the first half came to a close, West Chester was in control, 51-34.
The first half leaders for both teams were Alssense Saintilus and Dontahe Jordan. Each had 11 points for the Huskies, and R.J. Griffin had 14 first half points for West Chester, including four-for-four from beyond the arc.
The second half was a lot quicker, with more scoring, and less fouls. This time, Bloomsburg came out of the gate firing, looking to make it a game again, which is exactly what they did. They opened up the second half on a 12-5 run to cut the lead to 10 points. In the second half, Bloomsburg would cut the lead to 10 points, and then West Chester would answer to keep the lead just out of reach.
With over two minutes left in the game, Bloomsburg cut the lead to five points, the closest they were all game to that point. Jon Riles hit two big three pointers to cut that lead and keep them in the game. After a turnover by Shannon Givens, Bloomsburg had a chance to cut the lead to a one possession game. However, Jordan took an ill-advised corner three pointer that he missed badly, and was rebounded by West Chester’s Troy Hockaday to all but wrap up the game and send the Golden Rams to the Final Four of the PSAC Playoffs.
West Chester made its last four free throws, and after a missed jumper by Riles, Hockaday got the ball to sophomore Matt Wiseley on the break, where he slammed home as time ran out, to put an exclamation mark on a very good win for the Golden Rams.
The leaders of the game for Bloomsburg were Saintilus and Jordan with 23 points each, Jordan also had a game-high of nine rebounds. Lorenzo Christmas led the team with three assists. For the Rams, Troy Hockaday led the team with 21 points, while Cory Blake and Griffin also chipped in with 17 points each. Wiseley led the Rams with eight rebounds and Rasheed Wilkins led the team with four assists.
West Chester found out after the game that they would have to face the No. 1 seed out of the West, Gannon University. Gannon beat Slippery Rock in the quarterfinals in double overtime to move on. West Chester have faced Gannon once before on the season, at home, where Blake hit a layup with 10 seconds left, clinching the win for West Chester 73-72.
Both teams came into the semifinal matchup with the same 19-8 record, Gannon being the No. 1 seed in the West, and West Chester the No. 2 seed in the East. The winner of the Gannon and West Chester game will face East Stroudsburg who beat Mercyhurst 63-55, with the winner receiving an automatic spot into the Division II national tournament, the ultimate goal for the West Chester Golden Rams.
This semi-final matchup was just as exciting as the regular season game was. The key to the game would be the pace. If it was a fast paced, high scoring game, the advantage would be in West Chester’s hands. However, if it was a slow paced, defensive game, the favor would be in Gannon’s hands.
For the first half, the advantage was in Gannon’s hands as they controlled the pace of the entire first half, for the final 14 minutes of the first half, West Chester never led. PSAC West Player of the Year, Adam Blazek, hit a turnaround three-pointer as time expired to give the Knights a 40-35 lead heading into halftime.
In the second half, West Chester was able to speed up the pace of the game a little bit, but it was a battle the whole time. The turning point in the game was with two minutes left when Blazek was assessed a technical foul on top of a personal foul by Rap Thomas-Edwards. West Chester was down 68-64, however, after the two free throws by Hockaday, and the two technical free throws by Givens, the score was all knotted up at 68, and West Chester was awarded the ball as well.
West Chester and Gannon went back and forth for the final two minutes, and with 25 seconds left, West Chester was down by two. Givens was very aggressive, and was fouled as he got to the hole. For this, he was awarded two free throws, and sank them both. Without a timeout called, Blazek took the ball down the court, and it was Blazek against Wiseley, however, after great defense, Blazek lost the ball as time expired and the game was headed for overtime.
Coming into the game, West Chester was 2-0 in overtime this season, and Gannon was 2-1, including a double overtime win their previous game against IUP in the PSAC tournament quarterfinals. Again, West Chester and Gannon went back and forth, with a lot of aggression. With 18 seconds left, and the game tied at 75, Blake fouled Gannon’s Rogerio Livramento. After making the first one, Livramento missed the second one, and Givens came down with the rebound. Coach Blair chose not to take a timeout and trust his team. Givens drove into the lane, was stopped, dished it off to Blake, who found Wiseley underneath and was fouled as he went up with the ball by Matt Dogan. Wiseley on the season is a 65 percent free throw shooter, and Gannon used its last timeout to try and ice him. Wiseley stepped up and made both free throws giving the Rams a 77-76 lead with just six seconds left.
Blazek took the inbound pass and beat the defense for a second, however, missed a tough layup, and Livramento missed the tip as time expired, and West Chester will now play for the PSAC Championship game against East Stroudsburg on Sunday.
The leaders of the game for Gannon were Blazek, who had 22 points and six assists, and Thomas-Edwards had 12 rebounds. For the Golden Rams, Givens led with 21 points, on 7-23 shooting, Wiseley grabbed 10 rebounds and Hockaday had four assists.
“That was probably the most physical game we have played in my six years here. [Gannon’s] low-post players are unbelievable,” head coach Damian Blair said.
West Chester will now face the No.1 seed East Stroudsburg, on the Warriors home floor. This will be the third meeting of the season between the two teams. The Warriors have won both previous games, 107-94 on Jan. 25 at West Chester, they also won the final regular season game of the season at home 74-71 on Feb. 26. So this game will have everything a championship game should have, with the winner receiving an automatic bid into the NCAA Division II postseason tournament.
Ryan Calpin is a second-year student majoring in Communication Studies with a minor in Journalism. He can be reached at RC784188@wcupa.edu.