Shippensburg University men’s basketball team split a pair of home games this past weekend, falling to Indiana (PA) 96-84 Friday evening before rebounding with a 71-64 victory against Seton Hill. The results moved the Raiders to 4-2 on the season, including 1-1 in PSAC play.
The Raiders’ redshirt freshman Markus Frank made history in Friday’s matchup, scoring a career-high 40 points on 14 of 21 shooting, plus making 10 of 15 free throws. It was the first 40-point performance for a Shippensburg player since 1995, and the first in a non-overtime game since 1986.
IUP started the game strong, scoring the first 12 points to rush out to a convincing lead. Shippensburg made it a four-point deficit midway through the first half, but the Crimson Hawks responded to go up 11 at the half. The Raiders responded to again make it a four-point game early in the second half, but IUP responded once more, going up by as much as 17 en route to a 96-84 win.
Junior Michael Dunn joined Frank in setting a new career-high in points, scoring 24 off the bench. He and Frank were essentially the only offense for the Raiders, as no other player on the team scored more than four points.
The Raiders picked up a hard-fought win on Saturday, coming back from an 11-point second half deficit to win 71-64. They shot 55% in the second half, capitalizing on many Seton Hill turnovers to pick up the victory.
Seton Hill knocked down two three-point shots in the final minute of the first half to enter the locker room ahead by nine. After the Griffins scored the first bucket of the second half, Shippensburg went on a 22-3 run, turning a 33-22 deficit into a 44-36 lead. The Raiders led the rest of the game from that point.
Frank led the way once again for Shippensburg, posting a double-double with 27 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. Two other Raiders joined him in double-figures, with Dunn scoring 11 and graduate Andrew Recchia scoring 10.
The Raiders have one nonconference game on the schedule this week, a road matchup against Bowie State at 7 p.m, Wednesday night.
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