William Penn Falls to Vikings in MCC Opener
William Penn University Athletics
Des Moines–The Statesmen men’s basketball team stumbled out of the league gate against its biggest rival in a 99-80 Midwest Collegiate Conference loss to Grand View Wednesday.
WPU (11-6, 0-1 MCC) never led in a contest in which it was outshot 45.8%-36.2%. Down 50-36 at the break, things unfortunately did not improve in the second stanza and Grand View (8-6, 1-0 MCC) pulled away. The game was a rematch of last year’s MCC Tournament Final that WPU won.
Oliver Wells (Sr., Cedar Hill, Texas, Business Management) paced all players with 26 points (8-for-10 FT), while Alec Schwab (Sr., Peru, Ill., Business Management) had 15 and Shane Bosek (Jr., Lowry, Minn., Physical Education) produced 12. Wells added four assists and two steals as well.
In his first collegiate start, Nick Jeffries (Fr., Altoona, Iowa, Exercise Science) contributed seven points.
Despite being one of the shortest players on the floor, Mike Aldeman (Sr., Iowa City, Iowa, Education) worked hard to pull down a team-high ten rebounds as the navy and gold finished with a 46-44 edge on the glass. The squad’s 18-14 advantage on the offensive end led to a 14-11 mark in second-chance points.
WPU committed three more turnovers (13-10), made two fewer three-pointers (9-7), and had one less free throw (24-23).
Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa Saturday to host Viterbo in MCC play at 3 p.m.
