Statesmen Eclipse Century Mark in Heart-Opening Win Over MVC
Marshall, Mo.–There was no Thanksgiving hangover for the William Penn men’s basketball team as six players scored in double figures in a 111-96 Heart of America Athletic Conference win over Missouri Valley Saturday.
WPU (5-2, 1-0 Heart) outshot the Vikings 52.1%-50.0% in another highly-contested bout in the head-to-head series. It is the seventh time since 2016 that the navy and gold have scored over 100 points against MVC.
Both teams were excellent from behind the arc with William Penn hitting 44.1% (15-for-34), while the Vikings (1-5, 0-1 Heart) were 17-for-34 for 50.0%. The Statesmen made up for the slight perimeter disadvantage with a 43-31 rebounding edge, including a 17-10 offensive advantage that led to a 19-9 margin in second-chance points.
Although they were tied with the home team four times in the first half, the visitors never trailed in the contest and were up by multiple possessions for most of the opening 20 minutes.
Ahead 57-47 at halftime, WPU allowed Missouri Valley to pull within six with 15:13 remaining. The Statesmen fortunately caught fire again, posting runs of 14-5 and 9-1 to run away from the Vikings.
William Penn was strong throughout as all 10 players who stepped onto the floor scored at least four points. Nothing was lost with the bench actually outscoring the starters 56-55, including a game-high 25 points by Daniel Autrey (Jr., Detroit, Mich., Business Management). The junior was 8-for-10 overall with a 7-for-9 three-point effort.
Fellow non-starters Daniel Rosenber (So., Burnsville, Minn., Sports Management) and Brian Rios (Jr., El Paso, Texas, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management) each added 11 points, while Jayvin Brown (So., Waldorf, Md., Sports Management) contributed five with five assists.
Chanze Cruesoe (Jr., St. Louis, Mo., Business Management) narrowly missed a double-double with 17 points and eight assists, in addition to five rebounds and four steals. Eddie Daley (Grad., DeWitt, Mich., Master’s of Organizational Leadership) was next with 13 points and seven rebounds in just 17 minutes of action, while James Pennington (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Sports Management) also hit double digits with 11 points and six helpers.
Muneer Newton (Fr., Philadelphia, Pa., Business Management), with nine points, and Malik Edwards (Fr., Drexel Hill, Pa., Business Management), with five points, also produced Saturday.
“This was a great team win on the road,” Head Coach John Henry said. “Our bench was amazing and Daniel Autrey was on fire from three.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Des Moines next Wednesday to face Grand View in Heart play at 7:30 p.m.
