Huge Second Half Lifts William Penn to First Heart Win
Oskaloosa, Iowa – November 15: The William Penn Statesmen Men’s Basketball team takes on the Graceland Yellowjackets at Penn Gymnasium on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. (Photo by Kylie Chaney/William Penn Athletics)
WPU (2-5, 1-2 Heart) owned a 40.0%-36.6% shooting edge and outrebounded the Pirates 56-44. The visitors also made 24 free throws, but they had to come by those via 42 total attempts (57.1%).
The navy and gold trailed right out of the gate and were nearly blown out of the building in the first 20 minutes, trailing 38-25 at intermission.
Fortunately, a different team came out of the locker room as William Penn methodically clawed back into the contest. Jaz Farrell (Sr., Miramar, Fla., Undecided) hit a three-pointer to finally draw the Statesmen even at 46-46, and on the next trip down the floor, Ontario Chapman (Sr., Evanston, Ill., Psychology) scored on a layup to give William Penn the lead for good. It was all part of a 14-4 run for the visiting crew.
The Pirates (3-3, 1-1 Heart) tied the game one final time at 63-63 with five minutes to go, and then both teams went cold. Farrell finally broke the tie two minutes later with another trifecta as he closed with 12 points over the final 3:06 of the evening. After shooting 25.9% in the opening stanza, the navy and gold improved to 51.5% after halftime.
For the game, Farrell led all players with 29 points on 9-for-16 shooting. While as a collective unit, the Statesmen were poor at the charity stripe, the senior owned an 8-for-10 mark and also blocked three shots.
Mike Elliott (So., Indianapolis, Ind., Business Management), with 13 points (two steals as well), and Jason Priah (Jr., Shaker Heights, Ohio, Computer Science), with a bench-best 10, also eclipsed double digits. Shug Sneed (Jr., Chicago, Ill., Computer Science) just missed a double-double with nine points and a WPU-high 11 rebounds.
Chapman added seven points in a non-starting role as well, while Larontae Mormant (Sr., Bloomington, Minn., Business Management) pulled down 10 boards Saturday.
William Penn overcame 23 turnovers (just nine for PU) which led to a 25-12 deficit in points off mistakes. The Statesmen countered that slightly by outscoring the Pirates 18-15 in second-chance points.
“For a variety of reasons, we were missing six players and only travelled eight,” Head Coach John Henry said. “Our players bonded together and battled for a very feel-good win. We really needed this win, as both players and coaches.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Cedar Rapids next Tuesday to face Mount Mercy in Heart action at 7:30 p.m.
