The Raiders traveled to Kutztown University last night to take on the Golden Bears in a PSAC playoff quarterfinal matchup. The packed crowd in Keystone Arena left the game in shock.

Shippensburg University’s Abe Massaley drained a pull-up jumper from the free-throw line with 1.5 seconds remaining to send the Golden Bears packing. The shot was Massaley’s second game-winning shot in as many games in the PSAC playoffs.

“It’s amazing. Every game-winning shot is amazing anytime you can hit one. It was special, especially playing in their gym where I’ve never won before, to be able to go out like that, it’s just amazing,” Massaley said.

The game was a back and forth affair between SU and Kutztown, with neither team wanting to go home. The Raiders led for most of the first half, despite Dustin Sleva and Massaley being in foul trouble. Massaley only saw eight minutes of playing time in the first half, while Sleva played only nine minutes because he picked up two early foul calls.

In the first half, Justin McCarthur more than made up for Sleva’s and Massaley’s absence. McCarthur got going early, hitting three threes before the break. McCarthur also grabbed four rebounds in the opening half. The Raiders went into the locker room trailing 39-37 after a strong scoring run by Kutztown to close out the first half.

After the break, the Raiders took their first lead of the second half with 15:47 remaining on a three-point basket by Massaley. Both teams would battle back and forth for the rest of the game, with neither team leading by more than seven the rest of the game. With 1:30 left, SU led 70-63.

However, the Bears had one last run in them and fought hard to tie the game up for the 12th time with only 29 seconds left. The Raiders took a timeout and set up for the final possession and that is when the magic happened.

Massaley pushed the ball across half court and looked for his teammates to try to set up a quality shot. The Golden Bears played strong defense and no good shots were available, so the ball ended back up in Massaley’s hands.

Massaley dribbled the ball into the lane and then cut left and pulled up for a contested free-throw line jumper with time ticking down. The shot found the bottom of the net with 1.5 seconds left to play.

“I don’t know, there’s just something about those situations that gets me going. This is my third one this year and I’m just in awe, myself. I can’t explain it,” Massaley said.

Kutztown inbounded the ball and threw up a prayer but it went unanswered. The Raiders knocked off the No. 1 seed PSAC Eastern Division champs and will advance to the PSAC playoff semifinals.

The Raiders were led by McCarthur, who finished with a career-high 25 points in the victory. McCarthur shot 5-9 from long range and he also grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists.

Massaley also contributed more than the game-winning basket, picking up 16 points, four assists and five boards in the win. Sleva scored 12 points in 23 minutes. He also grabbed five rebounds. SU’s Tony Ellis just missed another double-double, scoring 11 points and tallying nine rebounds.

The win felt especially good for SU considering the Raiders were knocked out of last year’s PSAC Playoffs in Keystone Arena by Kutztown.

“It’s great, especially how our season ended last year here.” McCarthur said. “We wanted to come out and just set the tone right away and get a little payback to send them home, For us it’s great and for the school it’s great and we’re excited.”

Raider head coach Chris Fite said, “It’s tremendous. All season long we’ve just been saying let’s take it one game at a time and the guys have done a great job with that and we knew we were going to be a tough out come playoff time. We knew we would be tough to beat and we liked our chances no matter who we face and it’s great to take the next step and get to the semifinals.”

The Raiders will face off against PSAC Western Division foe Mercyhurst University for a shot at the PSAC championship game. The Raiders defeated the Mercyhurst Lakers back on Nov. 21, 74-68. The game will be at West Chester University and is set to tip off at 1 p.m. 

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