Edwards Shines in Season-Opening Blow-Out Win
Chicago, Ill. –The Statesmen men’s basketball team started off its season Friday with a 107-80 win over Great Lakes Christian in the Governors State Classic.
William Penn (1-0), coming off a year led by many seniors, showed right away that it has people who can step up into more prominent roles. Malik Edwards (Fr., Drexel Hill, Pa., Business Management) could not be stopped by the Crusaders (0-1), putting up 17 points in the first half on 7-12 shooting.
In a back-and-forth first half, William Penn eventually led 48-39 at the break. That would be as close as the game would get as the Statesmen heated up in the second stanza, shooting 58.3% to go along with 43 percent shooting from behind the arc.
The start of the second half saw all of WPU’s starters score as a Chanze Cruesoe (Jr., St. Louis, Mo., Business Management) two-point jumper led into a Edwards’ three-pointer. Muneer Newton (Fr., Philadelphia, Pa., Business Management) also scored two of his eight points on the night with a mid-range jumper.
GLC tried all it could as it brought on a full-court press to try and force the young Statesmen squad into mistakes. A fast-paced squad, William Penn has been known to turn the ball over, but limited its total to just six in the period (12 overall).
Already up 10 at 73-63, the Statesmen were able to seal the game with a 19-0 run over the span of six minutes.
Eddie Daley (Grad., DeWitt, Mich., Master’s of Organizational Leadership), who returned to the court after a year away from the game, scored 12 points and added seven rebounds. Cruesoe added in 11 points with seven assists and three rebounds, while another returner Rodrigo Soares (So., Dallas, Texas, Sports Management) poured in 10 points to help off the bench.
Newcomer James Pennington (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) had one of the more all-around games with six points, six assists, and five rebounds. Daniel Autrey (Jr., Detroit, Mich., Business Management) contributed nine points and five rebounds, while Brian Rios (Jr., El Paso, Texas, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management) had seven points.
The talk of the game, though, was Edwards who dropped a career-high 32 points, going 6-11 from three-point range and 12-18 overall.
Up Next: William Penn will be staying in Chicago as they take on Governors State at 2 p.m. Saturday.
