LOCK HAVEN, Pa.- After a second-half comeback, the West Chester University men's basketball team (19-10) is finishing its preparations for its 12^th consecutive PSAC Quarterfinal appearance on Wednesday night at the home of top-seed Lock Haven (20-7). Wednesday night will be a doubleheader at Lock Haven as the Bald Eagles swept the PSAC East regular season titles and will host a women's game vs Millersville at 5:30 p.m. before hosting West Chester at 7:30.

Fan Information

Tickets: Similar to last night, fans must purchase tickets online, and there will be no cash sales. Adult tickets remain priced at $10, while students in K-12 will be $5. Students from PSAC Member Institutions with valid, current IDs will be admitted free of charge. No complimentary tickets will be available, although PSAC Passes will be honored. Fans must purchase tickets via this link.

With a Win

With a victory, West Chester would advance to its first PSAC Semifinal since the 2019 season when the team traveled to Indiana (Pa.) (IUP) for a Semifinal matchup against the Crimson Hawks. With a win over the top-seed Bald Eagles, West Chester would head west again, traveling to the home of the highest remaining seed in the PSAC West.

Wednesday night is somewhat unfamiliar territory for Lock Haven. The Bald Eagles are searching for their first PSAC Semifinal appearance since the 1990 season when they fell to Millersville by an 82-68 final. This 1990 appearance came at the end of a run of three consecutive PSAC Semifinal appearances for the Bald Eagles.

Series Information

Winners of each of nine of the last 11, West Chester, will look to stop its losing streak in its tracks as the Golden Rams enter play off their first sweep at the hands of Lock Haven since the 2016-17 season. West Chester has not lost three in a row to Lock Haven since a stretch from 1986 to 1988 when the team dropped three in a row against the Bald Eagles. West Chester still holds a 34-11 lead all-time against Lock Haven and has one PSAC Tournament win over LHU, with that result coming in 2020 in the first PSAC Tournament meeting between the two teams.
 
Last Time They Met

When West Chester and Lock Haven came together in Hollinger just over a month ago to begin the second half of PSAC East play, the Golden Rams appeared as if they would hand the Bald Eagles a critical loss, but Justice Shoats had other ideas, hitting a clutch driving layup to lift Lock Haven to a 78-77 victory over the Golden Rams. West Chester trailed for much of the afternoon, finding itself by as many as 11 in the first half and by five for much of the second half, but still managed to hold a late lead, using a 6-0 run in the final minute of regulation to inch out to a 77-76 lead. Shoats gave Lock Haven the lead back at 78-77 with a big driving layup with under five seconds to play in a narrow home loss for the Golden Rams. Robert Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) led the Golden Rams in scoring with 20 points, while Jordan Kellier (Kingston, Jamaica/Redemption Christian) picked up one of his 17 double-doubles on the year with 19 points and 16 rebounds. Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover) and Anthony Purnell Jr. (Chester, Pa./Kiski) finished with 14 and 10 points each in the setback for WCU. As a team, West Chester shot 40.6 % from the field and 37.5 % from three-point range while also shooting 72.7 % at the line. For Lock Haven, Shoats scored a game-high 23 points as one of three Bald Eagles in double figures. As a team, LHU shot a solid 50.9 % from the field and 33.3 % from deep while also shooting just 55.6 % from the charity stripe.

Flock Talk

A night ago, West Chester entered the PSAC Tournament looking for its 12th-consecutive PSAC Quarterfinal appearance in the First Round of the Tournament vs Shepherd. West Chester trailed throughout the entirety of the first half and found itself down by 10 late in the first half but used a second-half surge to earn a 76-66 victory. Between the end of the first half and the first six minutes of the second half, West Chester held Shepherd without a point for just under eight-and-a-half minutes as part of a 21-3 run, which helped the Golden Rams flip their 10-point deficit into a 42-34 lead with 14 minutes remaining in regulation. West Chester never trailed again on Monday night, stretching its lead to as many as 16 with 5:49 to play in regulation. Shepherd would not go away quietly, cutting the deficit to as few as five in the waning moments of regulation, but West Chester closed the game on a 5-0 run at the free throw line to post the 10-point victory.

West Chester shot an even 50.0 % from the field in the first half and ended the game shooting 45.3 % from the field and 46.2 % from deep, connecting on 6-of-13 from three-point territory. West Chester also ended the game with an 81.5 % (22-of-27) free throw shooting percentage. Phillip Jordan led Shepherd in scoring, finishing with 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting as one of three Rams in double figures. Shepherd shot 40.0% (24-of-60) from the field and 22.6 % (7-of-31) from three-point range while also shooting 64.7 % (11-of-17) from the line. West Chester ended the game with a 40-30 lead in rebounding, which resulted in a 17-12 lead in second-chance points, while also ending the game with a 26-24 lead in points in the paint and a 13-10 lead in points off the break.

Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover) led West Chester in scoring in the victory with 21 points, including 13 in the first half, as one of four Golden Rams in double figures. Smith finished with 17 points, along with 14 from Joshua Walker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Riverdale Baptist) and 11 from Kellier. Walker also led the team in rebounding last night, corralling 10 rebounds in the victory.

After last night's victory, Allen remains the Golden Rams leading scorer, averaging 17.6 points per game, which ranks ninth in the PSAC, just ahead of teammate Smith, who is 10th, averaging 17.4 points per game. Kellier remains one of the top big men in Division II, averaging 10.8 rebounds per game, remaining third in DII, and continuing to rank second in the Nation in double-doubles with 17. Purnell Jr., who returned to the Golden Rams rotation a year ago, continues to lead the team in assists, ranking eighth in the PSAC in this category, averaging 3.8 helpers per game.

West Chester remains fifth in the PSAC in scoring, averaging 81.8 points per game, which is also third-best in the PSAC East, trailing only East Stroudsburg and Millersville. As a team, West Chester elevated its field-goal percentage to 46.0 %, while also shooting 34.4 % from three-point range and shooting 71.8 % from the line. West Chester continues to rank among the league leaders in rebounding, averaging 40.6 rebounds per game while holding opponents to 32.4 rebounds per game, which is the best in the league.

Scouting Lock Haven

Lock Haven enters Wednesday night well-rested after earning a bye to the PSAC Quarterfinals as the top seed in the PSAC East, following a win in a de facto PSAC East Title game on Saturday afternoon against Millersville. Lock Haven held a 10-point lead at the half on Senior Day against Millersville on Saturday afternoon, and this advantage proved crucial as Millersville tried to mount a late comeback. Still, the Bald Eagles earned a 90-79 victory to capture the top seed in the PSAC East out of a three-way tie with Millersville and East Stroudsburg. Isaiah Stewart led the way in scoring with 20 points, while Shoats added 18 points to go along with 13 from Dyson Harward and 12 more from Collin Jones. Lock Haven shot a stellar 51.6 % from the field and 47.4 % from three-point range while holding the high-powered Marauders to 47.5 % shooting from the field and 33.3 % from beyond the arc.

Shoats continues to be one of the top scoring guards in the PSAC, averaging 20.4 points per game, while Jones is second in scoring, averaging 12.8 points per game. In addition to ranking second in the PSAC in scoring, Shoats also leads the team in assists, averaging 4.6 per game, while ranking third in rebounding, averaging 4.4 per game. Dyson Harward leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.6 per game, while ranking fourth in scoring, averaging 9.6 points per game, entering the PSAC Tournament.

As a team, Lock Haven enters the Quarterfinals averaging 77.3 points per game while holding its opponents to an average of just 71.4 points per game. Shooting 46.9 % from the field and 36.1 % from three-point range, Lock Haven's opponents enter play shooting 43.2 % from the field and 35.0 % from three-point territory. While Lock Haven has not been among the best in the league in rebounding this year, averaging just 36.4 rebounds per game, the Bald Eagles make up for this with swarming defense that forces opponents into an average of nearly 15 turnovers per game thanks to a 6.5 steal per game average.