Statesmen Claim Road Victory at Clarke
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Dubuque–The William Penn men’s basketball team overcame foul trouble and a hostile environment to take a 78-72 Heart of America Athletic Conference win over Clarke Thursday.
#2 WPU (11-0, 5-0 Heart), which has now won eight in a row in the series, is off to its second-best start in school history, trailing only the 2012-2013 squad (14-0).
Once again without the services of leading scorer Marlon Alcindor (Sr., Queens, N.Y., Sociology), the navy and gold needed to find new avenues for points. They located that with a balanced attack of five players in double figures.
The Pride (4-5, 2-2 Heart) were strong early, going ahead 8-7 and staying on top until the final two minutes of the first half. Abrian Edwards (Sr., Austin, Texas, Kinesiology) eventually gave the visitors their first advantage since the 17:52 mark at 31-30; it was an edge they would never surrender again.
Ahead 35-30 at intermission, William Penn, which held a 49.0%-35.0% shooting advantage, pushed the lead to double figures where it would stay for much of the second period. At 69-53 with 4:32 remaining, the Statesmen were about to coast to the win, but CU made one final push and trimmed the margin all the way down to four in the final minute.
Fortunately, Edwards, who was a perfect 8-for-8 at the line, held off the rally with six makes in the last 2:30. The senior finished with a team-high 18 points on 5-for-8 shooting, but was limited to only three assists.
Shamar Bailey-DeCoteau (Jr., Toronto, Ontario, Undecided), one of two players to foul out (one of four with at least four fouls), was next in scoring with 14, highlighted by three three-pointers. Overall, WPU was just 4-for-15 from behind the arc, while Clarke made 10 of its 29 long tries. The Pride also made it interesting with a 74.1% free-throw mark (20-for-27). The Statesmen, on the other hand, had 36 total shots at the charity stripe, but connected on just 24 for a 66.7% clip.
Bailey-DeCoteau also stole five passes (one of 12 total) as William Penn actually had one more turnover than CU (17-16).
TaJuan Johnson (Jr., Chicago, Ill., Business Management) ended up with 13 points and a WPU-best eight rebounds, while Omar Sherman (Sr., Duncanville, Texas) (12 points) and Mario Manuel (So., Des Moines, Iowa, Sports Management) (11 points off the bench) also hit double digits.
Q Cager (Fr., Hopkinsville, Ky., Sports Management) managed six points as well.
Both sides pulled down 40 rebounds, including a 16-12 edge for Clarke on the offensive glass.
“I am proud of our team for handling adversity and sticking together in a hostile environment tonight,” Head Coach John Henry said.
Next Up: William Penn travels to Olathe, Kan. Saturday to face #19 MidAmerica Nazarene in Heart action at 4 p.m.
