WPU Wins 74-67 in Top-25 Battle
William Penn University Athletics
Chicago, Ill.—The Statesmen men’s basketball team pulled away late to defeat #20 Ashford 74-67 in the opener of the Moody Bible Tournament Friday.
#18 WPU (7-2) was slowed down in the first half to trail 31-29 at the break.
The navy and gold remained tied with the Saints (1-6) with 8:49 left in regulation, but went on a run to go up 65-56 at the 5:21 mark. The squad held on from there to win its seventh in a row after starting 0-2.
Oliver Wells (Sr., Cedar Hill, Texas, Business Management) led the Statesmen with 17 points, while Kelly Madison (Sr., Des Moines, Iowa, Physical Education), with 15, Shane Bosek (Jr., Lowry, Minn., Physical Education), with 14, and Alec Schwab (Sr., Peru, Ill., Business Management), with 13, also reached double figures.
Antione Howard (Jr., Milwaukee, Wis., Physical Education) paced the glass attack with eight rebounds, while Sam Sykes (Jr., Houston, Texas, Business Management) had four blocks. Wells and Madison assisted on three occasions each.
“Shane and Sam were both awesome for us off the bench,” Head Coach John Henry said. “We needed their athleticism and length tonight and they delivered for us.”
Next Up: With the win, William Penn advances to Saturday’s tournament championship game against #8 Robert Morris (Ill.) at 2 p.m. Robert Morris eliminated WPU in the national quarterfinals last year.
