William Penn Falls in High-Scoring Affair
William Penn Men’s Basketball came out on the short end against Clarke in conference action.
Oskaloosa–The Statesmen men’s basketball team nearly reached the century mark for the first time in over two months, but it was not enough to keep pace with Clarke in a 103-98 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss Monday.
In a game that was postponed five days due to weather, #14 WPU (17-6, 11-6 Heart) was outshot 50.8%-45.1% and outrebounded 42-36.
The hosts were strong in the beginning moments, taking an 11-2 lead less than two minutes into the evening. Unfortunately, the Pride (10-12, 8-8 Heart) answered with 10 straight and never took their collective foot off the proverbial accelerator.
William Penn fell behind 37-29, but rallied to trail by only one at halftime, 46-45.
Led by 20 points from Abrian Edwards (Sr., Austin, Texas, Kinesiology), the Statesmen scratched out its last advantage at 50-49, but CU would get the edge right back and never give it up again.
On the verge of losing control of the game at 85-74, the navy and gold rallied one final time, eventually trimming the deficit to two at 88-86 with 4:10 remaining on a bucket by Malyk Thomas (So., Copperas Cove, Texas, Computer Science). The Pride, who were just too strong on the offensive end, tallied six in a row and cruised to the win.
Despite being outrebounded, WPU did managed a 17-13 mark in second-chance points. The home squad also committed three fewer turnovers (10-13), but both sides finished with 15 points off mistakes.
In the end, the game was won with the shooting stroke as William Penn was outshot 43.5%-26.7% from behind the arc and 79.5% (31-for-39) compared to 74.3% (26-for-35) at the charity stripe. Edwards was a perfect 8-for-8 at the line to headline WPU’s efforts.
Ahmad Pender (So., Chicago, Ill., Exercise Science) was next in the Statesmen scoring column with 15 points off the bench, while Marlon Alcindor (Sr., Queens, N.Y., Sociology) tallied 14. Darius Wheeler (Sr., Jonesboro, Ga., Sports Administration), with 13 points, and Thomas, with 11, also hit the double-digit mark.
Omar Sherman (Sr., Duncanville, Texas) was limited to nine points as he battled foul trouble, while Eddie Daley (So., DeWitt, Mich., Sports Management) and Mario Manuel (So., Des Moines, Iowa, Sports Management) each contributed seven points.
Edwards also dished out eight assists, while Sherman blocked four shots. Edwards and Wheeler posted a pair of steals each as well.
Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa Saturday, hosting Baker in Heart action at 4 p.m.
