Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
WCU rolls past Lock Haven for easy win
WEST CHESTER » The mid-season lull which knocked the West Chester men out of first place in the PSAC East basketball standings now seems like ancient history, even though it took place less than three weeks ago.
Since then, the Golden Rams have reeled off five straight victories, methodically working their way back into sole possession of first place in the division race. The latest came on Wednesday against Lock Haven, where WCU ran the Bald Eagles out of Hollinger Field House, turning a first half battle into a solid 105-84 triumph.
“When you’re winning games, you have a tendency to not pay attention to detail,” said head coach Damien Blair. “The thing that makes us special is that we defend and play together. Our focus has been to kill teams on the offensive glass, help out your teammate and share the ball. When we do that we just have a certain type of flow.”
Now 16-4 (20-4 overall) and holding a half-game lead with two regular season contests to go, West Chester travels to East Stroudsburg (15-4, 18-5) for a critical Saturday clash against the second placed Warriors. The Rams will wrap thing up at home on Feb. 21st against Shippensburg (15-4, 19-5).
Two more wins and WCU will secure the program’s first division title off Blair’s 10-year reign. And Wednesday’s win pushed the Rams to a 20-win campaign for the fourth time in six seasons.
“It hasn’t happened, but it would be really nice,” Blair said when asked about the regular season division crowns.
“I would definitely love to change that,” added junior guard Fran Rokins, who was the star on Wednesday. “That’s why I came here.”
Lock Haven — which seemingly imploded in the second half amid a flurry of technical fouls — was outscored by 21 in the second half and falls to 5-14, 7-16.
“Every game is a war,” Blair said. “This game was a struggle in the first half. I think it’s just a matter of staying focused on what’s made us successful. It will not be an easy task to beat East Stroudsburg on the road.”
The Rams got into all kinds of foul trouble early in the first half, but somehow managed to pull into a 38all tie at the half thanks to a breakout offensive performance by Rokins and some quality play from the WCU bench. The junior scored WCU’s first nine points and had 14 of the team’s initial 22.
“Frank bailed us out on offense and defense,” Blair said. “When he plays like Frank Rokin, it’s tough to beat us because his teammates jump on his back and take it up a notch.”
Back at full strength to start the second half — and aided by a couple technical fouls against the Eagles — WCU quickly grabbed a double-digit lead thanks to a 14-4 rally, and never looked back.
Rokins finished with a team-high 23 points, and added seven rebounds and five assists.
“I felt like the game was coming to me today,” Rokins said. “I got a couple easy layups and then (Lock Haven) started backing off me a bit so I just started shooting. I’ve been working on that, and they started falling.”
Foul trouble limited leading scorer Tyrell Long to just nine minutes of action in the opening half. But the senior from Philadelphia scored 14 of his 16 points after the half, and midway through the period he surpassed the 1,000-point milestone for his college career.
Jackson Hyland chipped in 13 points, and a trio of bench players – Evan-Eric Longino, Terrence Moore and Mike Jenkins – combined to score 32.
“When we had the losing streak, we kind of lost track and thought the wins were just going to come,” Rokins explained. “We let the rankings and stuff get to our heads. So we had a player’s only team meeting and then we stated buckling down in practice and we started rolling again. I think we are now playing better than we played earlier this season.
“Right now we are keeping our head down and trying to stay focused. Coach tells us that nothing is given to us and we have to go out and take it.”
The Rams edged ESU by two points at Hollinger in mid-January. And the stakes the second time around will surely be magnified.
“Hey, we’ve been working on trying to beat East Stroudsburg’s pressure for about a week and a half now,” Blair pointed out. “We know what they do and it’s just a matter of going out there and playing well.”