LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – On Saturday afternoon, the Lock Haven University (9-12, 6-11 PSAC) men's basketball team was perfect from the floor in overtime as the Bald Eagles surged to defeat Shippensburg University (15-7, 12-5 PSAC) by a 79-67 tally in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) action in Thomas Fieldhouse.
The win extended Lock Haven's winning streak to three games as the PSAC playoff race comes down to the final two weeks of play.
Shippensburg jumped out to an early 13-5 lead in the contest before the Bald Eagles began clawing back. With 13:26 to play in the first half, Eli Washington (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) converted a pair of a free throws and later added a driving layup to cut the gap to 13-9 as the game approached the midway point of the opening half.
The two teams traded scores on the next two possessions but it was the Bald Eagles responding with back-to-back layups to take the lead for the first time. James Price (Joppa, Md./Archbishop Curley) and Isaiah Stewart (Madison, Wis./Madison La Follette) tallied layups on consecutive possessions as LHU owned a 16-15 lead midway through the first half.
Over the final 10 minutes of the opening half, both teams traded the lead three times but it was Lock Haven owning a five-point advantage at the intermission. Dymir Montague (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) netted a layup with 94 ticks to play in the first frame to push the Bald Eagles lead to 32-29.
The Raiders answered with a free throw to cut the lead to two, but Washington found MarkAnthony Fidelis (Largo, Md./DeMatha) on the wing with two seconds to go and the Largo, Md. native found nothing but the bottom of the net to push the Bald Eagles out to 35-30 halftime advantage.
Fidelis led the way for the Bald Eagles in the opening half with eight points.
Out of the intermission, Shippensburg took the lead and the game went back and forth throughout the second half. Jesse McPherson (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) knocked in a jumper with 42 ticks to play in the second half to knot the game up at 63-63, which is how regulation ended.
At the start of overtime, the Bald Eagles wasted little time in gaining the lead and never looked back. McPherson took over early in the extra session with a driving layup to open a 6-0 spurt from the Bald Eagles. The Philadelphia, Pa. native booked ended the run with a jumper to push the Crimson and White lead to 69-63 with 3:31 to play in overtime.
Later in the overtime session, McPherson converted a pair of free throws to push the lead to double figures and Fidelis put an exclamation point on the victory with a slam with 46 ticks to play to finalize the scoring and hand the Bald Eagles a 79-67 victory.
Montague led all scorers with 21 points. The Philadelphia, Pa. native added a team-high 11 rebounds to post a double-double.
DaQuan Granberry (Linwood, Pa./Chichester) added 16 points, while McPherson chipped in 14, including 10 in overtime, and Fidelis tallied a dozen points to round out four players in double figures for the Bald Eagles. Lock Haven shot at a stellar 45.6% (31-of-68) clip on the afternoon and owned a 38-30 scoring advantage in the paint.
Up Next:
The Bald Eagles return to Thomas Fieldhouse to host Shepherd University on Monday, February 14. That matchup is set to tipoff at 7:30 p.m.
