On Tuesday, Dec. 1 the Shippensburg University Raiders men’s basketball team hosted Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) foe West Chester University, with their eyes set on knocking the Golden Rams from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Instead, the Golden Rams shot the lights out of Heiges Field House, dropping eight threes in the first half on their way to an 83-68 victory over the Raiders.

In the first half, both teams lit up the scoreboard, pouring in basket after basket. The Golden Rams and Raiders both shot above 50 percent from the field for the half, with the Raiders shooting 53.6 percent and West Chester shooting 52.8 percent. Both teams found their grove from long-distance, with the teams making a combined 15 threes in the first half alone. For West Chester, Matt Wiseley, Avery Brown and Mike Wilson each knocked down two threes. For Shippensburg, Abe Massaley led the way hitting two threes and pouring on 18 points. The Raiders also received a strong first half from Dustin Sleva, who grabbed seven rebounds and eleven points. At the half West Chester held a 54-44 lead.

Shippensburg would rally in the second half and cut the West Chester lead to just six points three times, but was unable to draw any closer and dropped the matchup 83-68. The Raiders struggled to find the bottom of the net after their hot start and shot 7-23 in the second half and 0-7 from three-point range. Shippensburg played physical on ball defense the entire way but West Chester continued their hot hand from three-point range and hit another four field goal attempts from downtown to ice the game. The Golden Rams had a late surge in this game to make the score reflect a game that was not close, even though this game was closely contested from start to finish.

The Golden Rams had strong offensive performances from their bench, with the bench contributing 28 points in the game. Malik Jackson and Brown led the way for West Chester, scoring 16 and 14 respectively. As a whole, the Golden Rams shot 43.1 percent from the field, while shooting 48 percent from deep.

For SU, it was Massaley and Sleva who led the team. Massaley exploded for a career high 31 points, while assisting on two baskets and coming away with a steal in the loss. Sleva picked up 13 points and grabbed 14 boards, picking up his fourth double-double of the season in the losing effort.

For the Rams, 29 points would be the lowest point total they would put up in a half this season, but West Chester was still able to put up at least 80 points in all six contests this season. The Golden Rams average 88.3 points per game.

The Raiders have been a strong defensive team this season, allowing only 68.2 points per game this season. Still, they were unable to stop the Rams on Tuesday night. The Raiders look to regroup from a tough loss with a PSAC crossover matchup with Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

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