William Penn Collects Much-Needed Win Over Baker

Abrian Edwards (Sr., Austin, Texas, Kinesiology) silently had a tremendous all-round performance, recording his second triple-double of the season with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.  The senior was 5-for-9 from the field, made a pair of three-pointers, and knocked down five free throws.

Abrian Edwards (Sr., Austin, Texas, Kinesiology) silently had a tremendous all-round performance, recording his second triple-double of the season with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. The senior was 5-for-9 from the field, made a pair of three-pointers, and knocked down five free throws.

by Wade Steinlage

Oskaloosa–The Statesmen men’s basketball team had five players in double figures for the second consecutive night, but this time around the crew was able to come away victorious as it defeated Baker 87-81 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday.

#14 WPU (18-6, 12-6 Heart), which made up a game on Peru State in the North Division standings (just one back with six to play), survived despite allowing Baker to make 18 three-pointers. The Wildcats (10-14, 7-12 Heart) entered the game at just 34.7% from behind the arc (10.0 made per outing), but shot 47.4% from deep, including 58.8% in the second half to stay relevant.

The visitors scored the first three points of the afternoon for their only lead. The navy and gold answered with their own perimeter success, headlined by a trio of trifectas from Eddie Daley (So., DeWitt, Mich., Sports Management) to claim a 20-8 advantage. The victors were competent from deep as well, going 13-for-31 for 41.9%.

The edge grew to 14 before shrinking to eight at 42-34 by intermission. William Penn, paced by 21 points from Omar Sherman (Sr., Duncanville, Texas), extended its margin to a game-high 17 at 62-45 with 12:40 to go on a long ball off the fingertips of Marlon Alcindor (Sr., Queens, N.Y., Sociology).

Unfortunately, BU was a pesky bunch and got within eight just over a minute later on nine straight points. The sides exchanged buckets over the next few minutes, but another mini run made it a four-point matchup at 72-68 with seven minutes still to go in regulation.

Every punch that the Wildcats landed, however, a counter punch was thrown right back from the Statesmen and William Penn never allowed the visiting squad to get within a single possession in the waning minutes.

WPU outshot BU 52.5%-41.8% and recorded a 39-31 advantage on the glass. Both teams tallied 10 offensive rebounds, but the Statesmen were better at putting away the extra opportunities with an 18-13 mark in second-chance points.

On the other hand, the Wildcats were extremely strong in taking advantage of turnovers. The hosts only committed two more mistakes than their foes (13-11), but Baker managed a 19-8 margin in points off turnovers.

Abrian Edwards (Sr., Austin, Texas, Kinesiology) silently had a tremendous all-around performance, recording his second triple-double of the season with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. The senior was 5-for-9 from the field, made a pair of three-pointers, and knocked down five free throws.

Daley did most of his damage early on, matching Edwards with 17 points of his own, while Alcindor also reached double figures with 11 points. Shamar Bailey-DeCoteau (Jr., Toronto, Ontario, Undecided), who had been held out of action the past two games due to injury, returned with a nice 10-point showing off the bench.

Darius Wheeler (Sr., Jonesboro, Ga., Sports Administration) contributed seven points as well in the winning cause.

In addition to his 21 points, Sherman also blocked five shots. He was 4-for-4 at the free-throw line as well; WPU outscored BU 12-7 at the stripe.

Also defensively, Ahmad Pender (So., Chicago, Ill., Exercise Science) guided the Statesmen with two steals.

“It was good to have Shamar back; we are starting to get healthy again and will hopefully have Q Cager and Lowden Rockweiler back soon,” Head Coach John Henry said. “We finally caught some breaks today.”

Next Up: William Penn travels to Fayette, Mo. next Wednesday to face Central Methodist in Heart action at 7:30 p.m.

Posted by on Feb 11 2019. Filed under College Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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