The Shippensburg University men’s basketball team continued its winning streak on Wednesday night as the Raiders took down Wilmington University 80-75 in an overtime thriller.

Senior Dylan Edgar picked up his second consecutive double-double behind a team-high 21 points and 14 rebounds, while shooting 10 of 13 from the floor.

“It just shows that we can grow through adversity,” said Edgar. “Last year, I think this team would have folded under that pressure, but it just shows how we’re maturing. We have a lot of young guys on the team still, but even the freshmen are stepping up and making big contributions to the team.”

SU picked up a quick lead, and were up 9-2 after a Dustin Sleva layup, before the Wildcats could regroup. The Raiders maintained the lead for the entire first half, leading by as much as 10 after an Edgar layup that gave Shippensburg the 30-20 lead.

Freshmen Trent Bauer and Justin McCarthur each made an impact in the first half, Bauer slamming home a dunk in traffic a little less than nine minutes into the game, and McCarthur putting up six points while shooting 2 of 3 from behind the arc.

Edgar paced the team with 14 points, making 6 of 8 shots before the half.

Shippensburg went into halftime up 35-34. But the Wildcats grabbed their first lead of the night less than a minute into the second half. The teams battled back and forth, but as the clock wound down past the 12-minute mark Wilmington took the lead and started putting up baskets.

With 4:45 left in the game, the Wildcats had a 10-point lead and SU was reeling.

But the Raiders did not give up, and started chipping away at the lead.

Sophomore guard Abe Massaley came up big, hitting four out of four free throws. The last one brought the score to 63-59 and put Shippensburg within striking distance with 3:31 on the clock.
Shippensburg had come a long way back, but the game looked all but over for the Raiders after a Wilmington layup, as the clock ticked down past the 30-second mark with the Wildcats up by three. An ill-timed turnover by SU took the game clock down to near 15 seconds.

But the 195 fans that came out for the game were in for a dramatic finish, as Shippensburg got the ball back. With the clock at 5.7 seconds, junior Jay Hardy took a feed from senior Edgar and sank it from beyond the arc to tie it at 68 and force the game into overtime.

“(I was) very excited, and very relieved,” said 2nd-year head coach Chris Fite on Hardy’s game-tying 3-pointer. “It didn’t look good there for a while, and we kept grinding it out and got that last possession. Jay managed to get a good look, and make a big play for us there.”

The Raiders came out strong defensively in OT and forced several turnovers, converting them into points on the other end of the court. That would prove to be the difference in the game.

Hardy, who was shut out offensively in the first half, picked up 10 points in the second, including five in overtime.

Massaley came up big again in overtime, making 3 of 4 free throws in the final 15 seconds to close out the Shippensburg victory 80-75.

“I couldn’t be more proud of my team,” said Edgar after the win. “With Jay hitting that shot, I have a rush of adrenaline right now, I feel great about that win. 3-0! Last year we were 3-23, and we’re already 3-0 so it’s great to get that win.”

“It’s fantastic, and the guys showed a lot of character tonight,” said coach Fite. “Any win is great, but the first couple of wins we had were a little more comfortable than this. So to come out under these circumstances and really not play our best but manage to keep our heads, and grind it out down the stretch and get a win, it really shows a lot about the character of these guys.”

Shippensburg plays its first away game at 3 pm. This Saturday vs. Bloomsburg. The huskies are also 3-0, so it should make for a good conference matchup in the battle of the undefeateds.

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