WCU holds off Kutztown in men’s hoops

Three players reached double-figures with 10 points apiece as host West Chester held on for a 63-60 PSAC East men’s basketball victory over visiting Kutztown inside Hollinger Field House on Saturday afternoon.

Matt Weisely grabbed a key rebound, after Kutztown’s Tyler Brooks missed the back end of a 1-and-1 with 6.4 seconds left on the clock, and was fouled quickly thereafter. He sank two crucial free throws to give the Golden Rams the win.

Wiseley’s day was nearly finished from the start picking up three fouls in the first half. He committed his fourth foul in the early stages of the second half, but was disciplined enough to lead the team with 10 points, five rebounds, two steals, and shooting 2-for-2 from the line in the most suspenseful time of the game.

The Golden Rams (3-1, 2-0 PSAC) and Golden Bears (1-3, 1-1 PSAC) see-sawed back and forth the whole game finishing close in every category. The Golden Rams ended up shooting a better percentage from the field with a 42.6 percent, as compared to the Golden Bears shooting a little under 30 percent. West Chester also out-rebounded the Golden Bears by a tally of 38-27, which made all the difference.

Cory Blake and Ben Mingledough added 10 points each with eight rebounds, combined in the winning effort.

Church Farm grad Howard Sellers led the Golden Bears with 12 points and seven rebounds. MANSfIELD75,CHEYNEY65>> Kevin Larkin had 12 points and Mike Drinks added 11 for the Wolves (0-2, 1-3) in the PSAC loss.

Mansfield ( 1-1 , 2-1) jumped out to a 38-22 halftime lead behind 60 percent shooting from the floor in the first half. With the game tied at 6-6, the Mounties went on a 25-6 to take a commanding lead. The Wolves were able to cut the deficit to 11 but Mansfield closed the half on a 7-2 run.

The Mounties quickly took the lead up to 20 early in the second half. With Mansfield nursing a 17 point advantage, Cheyney went on an 8-0 to get the deficit into single digits. Mansfield answered with their own 8-0 run to push the lead back up to 17. Cheyney once again was able to briefly get the lead down to nine, 6253 after Darryl Bryant sunk a pair of free throws with 5:27 to play. In the waning seconds of the contest, the Wolves trimmed the lead to seven. Mansfield convert 3-4 from the line in the final 26 seconds to secure the victory.

Joe Bell led Mansfield with 23 points and eight rebounds. Thomas Moore and Charles Pemberton added 15 and 11 points respectively. LINCOLN73,GLODEY-BEACOM 65 >> Tony Efese scored a season-high 18 points with nine rebounds as the Lions captured the non-conference matchup.

The Lions held a 4427 rebounding advantage against the Lightning. Senior Alonzo Murphy and Efese each made six freethrows and carried the Lions rebounding effort. Murphy had 10 defensive rebounds and Efese grabbed four offensive rebounds.

Women’s Basketball

CHEYNEY72,MANSfIELD69>> Kyra Hines-Allen scored a career-high 25 points while grabbing a career-high 21 rebounds to lead Cheyney (1-1, 1-2) to the PSAC win.

TaKayla Ellis dropped 17 points and recorded a teamhigh four steals. Kia WhitleyDuncan added 12 points and Taschell Phillips netted 11.

Cheyney led most of the first half but was unable to own a lead bigger than four points before settling on a 34-32 lead at half-time. Early in the second half, the Lady Wolves stretched the lead to six after a Hines-Allen layup. Cheyney was able to push the lead to seven to two occasions. Cheyney owned a 64-57 lead with 6:41 to play. The Mounties rallied, going on a 6-0 over the next minute. The teams traded baskets until the final seconds of the game. Aerie DeJesus and Whitley-Duncan each converted a pair of foul shots in the closing seconds to preserve the win.

Katie Fitzpatrick paced Mansfield with 15 points. WEST CHESTER 76, KUTZTOWN52>> Chikisha SteeleHook had a career day with 18 points and 17 rebounds to propel West Chester past PSAC rival Kutztown.

Steele-Hook’s 17 rebounds were the most in West Chester history since 1997, when Gina Tophoney recorded 19 against Mansfield.

In the opening minutes, the Golden Rams jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in the contest. Afterward, West Chester gained all momentum by going on a 9-0 run to extend the score to 17-4 at the 10-minute mark.

Kutztown closed the gap, only trailing by nine at the half. However the Golden Rams’ second half adjustments led them to a 17-point lead within the first three minutes to secure the victory

West Chester’s Brittany Sicinski reached doubledigits for the fourth consecutive game, contributing 13 points and five boards for the Golden Rams.

West Chester (4-0, 2-0 PSAC) constantly attacked the rim, outscoring Kutztown by 22 points in the paint. DESALES 63, IMMACULATA 58 >> Adriana Sciascia had 16 points and Sara Smith added 12 as Immaculata University’s women’s basketball team dropped a non-conference game.

Brittany Merkle led the Mighty Macs (0-3) on the glass with 10 rebounds and had eight points and two blocked shots. Mackie Fitzgerald dished out six assists to go along with five points and three steals.

After a slow start for Immaculata that allowed DeSales to take a 9-3 lead, Meghan Gallagher scored the first field goal for the Mighty Macs at the 13:40 mark. Gallagher’s bucket sparked a 14-point run by Immaculata that ended in its largest lead of the contest, 17-9, with 6:04 to play before halftime. Sciascia had seven of her 16 points during this spurt.

DeSales rallied with an 8-2 run to trim Immaculata’s lead to 19-17 with 3:41 left in the first half, and the Bulldogs eventually tied the contest at 24-all with 1:27 remaining before halftime. DeSales took a one-point edge as Kelly Anthony con- verted the three-point play. Immaculata grabbed back the edge with 35 seconds left in the half as Fitzgerald hit a jumper to give the Mighty Macs the 26-25 lead at the break.

Men’s Cross Country

NCAA ATLANTIC REGION >> West Chester’s men’s cross country team finished seventh overall with 220 points. It marked the highest regional finish for the men’s team since 2000.

Zach Musselman led the team finishing in 32nd place out of 133 overall runners with a time of 33 minutes, 55.2 seconds. His time was the second-best by a West Chester runner in the past 11 years on this specific course.

Jake Siegel finished 4.8 tenths of a second behind Musselman in 35th place, which was third best on this course in West Chester history. James Vadas ended 44th overall.

Women’s Cross Country

NCAA ATLANTIC REGION >> Amanda Eisman placed fourth individually to earn a trip to the NCAA Division II Championships in Louisville, Ky., next month.

Eisman traversed the course in 22 minutes, 49.8 seconds and was the highest individual, who was not from a qualifying school that was already headed to the NCAA Division II Fall Festival the first week of December. She becomes the first West Chester harrier to qualify for nationals since WCU Hall of Famer Kelly Walton in 2000.

West Chester placed 12th in the region as a team. Leigh ManningSmith posted a time of 24:04.3 to place 33rd for the Golden Rams. Mallory Drake placed 63rd overall with a time of 24:50.8, which is the fifth-best time on this course over the last 11 years.

High School Boys Basketball

WESTTOWN 67, KISKI 47 >> Jair Bolden had 25 points to lead the Quakers to the season-opening victory. Edvinas Rupkus added 20 points as Westtown led 3829 at halftime and pulled away from there.