William Penn Snaps Losing Streak with Season Sweep of Pirates

Oskaloosa--The Statesmen men's basketball team won for the first time in the 2024 calendar year with an 85-82 Heart of America Athletic Conference victory over Park Saturday.

WPU (5-13, 4-10 Heart) snapped its four-game losing streak by holding off the Pirates (7-11, 5-9 Heart) down the stretch.  The Statesmen needed a stop on the final possession of the game to pick up a win in a game that featured six ties and 11 lead changes.

The home team, which held a 46.7%-42.9% shooting edge, also posted a 41-30 margin in rebounding.  Those advantages helped the navy and gold overcome 18 turnovers (11 for PU).

Down 6-2 in the opening moments, WPU caught fire and eventually opened up a game-high 15-point lead at 41-26 with 3:54 to go in the first half.  Unfortunately, the Pirates rallied and the Statesmen hit the locker room up 47-41.

William Penn remained in front for the first 10 minutes of the latter half, but Park eventually overtook its host at 64-63.  The lead switched hands a couple more times before Manny Hammonds (Fr., Des Moines, Iowa, New Media) stepped up with back-to-back three-pointers to make it 80-76 with 4:04 left in the contest.  WPU would not trail again.

Hammonds finished 4-for-6 from behind the arc en route to a game-high 23 points.  Overall, WPU was 7-for-17 from the perimeter.

The margin narrowed to two points twice, but another trifecta, this time by Jaz Farrell (Sr., Miramar, Fla., Interdisciplinary Studies), with 53 ticks left, gave the Statesmen some breathing room.  The senior was 7-for-13 overall for a 21-point effort.

The hosts had a chance to put the game away, but turned the ball over with 16 seconds left.  Still up three at 85-82, William Penn had to find one final stop and accomplished that feat as the Pirates missed a corner three-pointer as well as a short jumper and time expired.

Both sides were exceptional from the free-throw line Saturday; WPU was 22-for-26 (84.6%) and Park was 22-for-28 (78.6%).  Jayvin Brown (So., Waldorf, Md., Wellness and Recreation) connected on all three of his free throws as he joined the double-digit club with 13 points.  Willie Anderson (Jr., Norristown, Pa., Applied Computer Science) also reached double figures with 12 points to guide the bench.

Shug Sneed (Jr., Chicago, Ill., Business Management) tallied eight points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds, while Justin Bradley (Jr., Okinawa, Japan, Biology) finished with six points as well.

Brown also assisted on five of WPU's buckets and stole two balls.

Wiilliam Penn's mistakes led to a 24-14 deficit in points off turnovers.  However, the squad's +11 rebounding edge helped the Statesmen post a 15-9 advantage in second-chance points.

"It feels good to win again," Head Coach John Henry said.  "A number of guys made plays tonight, but Manny Hammonds and Jaz Farrell were the headliners."

Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa next Monday to host MidAmerica Nazarene in Heart play at 7:30 p.m.