Statesmen Cruise Past SAU on Senior Day
Oliver Wells was one assist shy of his own double-double, scoring 20 points with nine ‘helps’.
Oskaloosa–A wire-to-wire Midwest Collegiate Conference win was a terrific way to celebrate Senior Day as the William Penn men’s basketball team defeated St. Ambrose 95-74 Saturday.
The Statesmen (16-11, 5-5 MCC) kept their hopes alive for hosting a first-round tournament game by avenging last month’s 95-85 loss in Davenport. WPU currently sits one-half game behind Grand View for fourth place and one game behind St. Ambrose (15-13, 6-4 MCC) for third.
The hosts went ahead 17-6 early and continued to be in control in the first 20 minutes, holding a 46-39 halftime edge.
The Fighting Bees were not easy to put away, though, narrowing the margin to three points at 55-52 with 14:06 to go. Fortunately, the navy and gold responded with eight unanswered points to go up big once more. One last fight closed the gap to eight points, but WPU was determined to win for its senior class with a 15-1 run over a span of just 3:11.
After shooting just 37.5% in the first meeting this year, the Statesmen were great from the floor with a 51.5%-39.7% edge over SAU. The Statesmen committed four more turnovers (16-12), but actually outscored the visitors 14-13 in points off mistakes.
A 52-33 rebounding margin was equally impressive as it netted WPU a 21-10 mark in second-chance points.
Four players hit the double-digit mark, highlighted by a huge double-double of 27 points and 15 rebounds by Shane Bosek (Jr., Lowry, Minn., Physical Education). The junior’s eighth double-double included going 7-for-7 at the line to lead a great team effort of 17-for-21.
Oliver Wells (Sr., Cedar Hill, Texas, Business Management) was one assist shy of his own double-double, scoring 20 points with nine ‘helps’. Fellow senior Alec Schwab (Sr., Peru, Ill., Business Management) started slow, but had two big three-pointers (14 total points) during the 15-1 run to put the game out of reach. He stole four passes as well.
Jake Guenther (Jr., Altoona, Iowa, Secondary Education) also eclipsed the mark with 11 points, while Sam Sykes (Jr., Houston, Texas, Business Management) tallied eight points with two blocks.
Jamere Murphy (Sr., Detroit, Mich., Physical Education) was possibly the best story as he took great advantage of extended minutes on Senior Day, tallying six points in just nine minutes.
The victory also secured another winning campaign for WPU–its fourth in a row and 10th in the last 11 seasons.
“I am really happy for our whole team, especially the seniors,” Head Coach John Henry said.
Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa next Wednesday to host AIB in MCC play at 7:30 p.m.
