Statesmen Collect Title #9 in 92-66 Senior Day Victory
Fifth-year senior Davion Scott was finally able to cut down his first championship net Saturday.
Oskaloosa–The tears were shed during halftime of the women’s game, so once the William Penn men’s basketball team stepped onto the hardwood an hour later against Baker (Kan.), it was all business as the Statesmen won 92-66 to claim a share of the Heart of America Athletic Conference title Saturday.
William Penn’s championship is its ninth overall and its first in the Heart (also the first for any WPU team since joining the league this year). #11 WPU (24-6, 17-5 Heart), which shared the crown with MidAmerica Nazarene and Peru State, unfortunately will enter next week’s Heart Tournament as the #3 seed due to tiebreakers. The navy and gold will begin their second title hunt by hosting #6 seed Benedictine in Wednesday’s quarterfinals at 7 p.m. While the program is almost certainly in the national tourney field with its high ranking, an automatic berth is on the line with the Heart Tournament title.
The Statesmen swept the Ravens in the regular season, winning 81-68 on January 16 and 82-77 on February 20.
Baker (12-17, 8-14 Heart) made sure the home team had to work for its part of the title Saturday, leading 34-31 late in the first half. Fortunately, WPU rattled off the final 10 points to recapture the lead 41-34 at halftime. At that juncture, the visitors owned a 44.8%-38.2% shooting margin, but seven additional free throws lifted the Statesmen to the mid-point edge.
William Penn quickly extended the lead to double digits in the latter stanza and was never threatened en route to garnering the season sweep of BU. The Statesmen finished with categorical victories in shooting (43.3%-38.6%), rebounding (41-40), and turnovers (11-19). They took their 14 offensive boards and converted them into a 17-9 mark in second-chance points and also had a 16-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
The victors missed just one free throw after intermission and finished 23-for-28 overall (82.1%). They made six more three-pointers than the Wildcats (11-5) as well.
With the game in hand late, the coaching staff was able to empty the bench and get all of the seniors on the court. A total of 11 players put points on the board in the victory with Brady Burford (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Physical Education) and Dondre Alexander (Jr., Iowa City, Iowa, Physical Education) both tallying 14 points.
Jessie Pernell (Sr., North Augusta, S.C., Physical Education), also with four steals, and Steven Roundtree (Sr., Jacksonville, Fla., Physical Education), also with nine rebounds, joined the aforementioned duo in double digits with 13 each.
Jarvis Haywood (Jr., Charlotte, N.C., Business Management) and Kevin Smith (Jr., Baltimore, Md., Physical Education) just missed the party with nine points apiece, while Shane Bosek (Sr., Lowry, Minn., Physical Education) contributed seven. Haywood and Alexander both posted three assists Saturday.
“It has been a wild ride from the first of October to today and I am so happy to say we are co-Heart champions!” Head Coach John Henry said. “Our defense and ball-sharing was great today. Brad Burford dominated the second half.”
