Defense Shows Out in Conference Win

Oskaloosa--In a chippy, back-and-forth game, the William Penn men's basketball team survived a late push for a tough Heart of America Athletic Conference win against Benedictine 75-67 Saturday.

William Penn (7-2, 3-0 Heart) brought a great defensive effort, forcing Benedictine (3-6, 1-2 Heart) into 18 turnovers (only 12 for the Statesmen), which led to 21 points off mistakes.  WPU shot 29-for-62 (46.8%) overall, while the Ravens connected on 23 of their 54 shots (42.6%) from the field.

In what felt like a rivalry game environment, two technical fouls were called on each team in the early minutes as the officials tried to keep the bout under control.

Lead changes were the story of the first half until the 8:41 mark when a Chanze Cruesoe (Jr., St. Louis, Mo., Business Management) jumper pulled the lead into the favor of WPU at 21-20. The hosts would keep the advantage throughout the first half, going into intermission up 37-35.

A 11-3 run over the first five minutes of the second stanza helped propel the Statesmen into a double-digit lead at 49-38.  The navy and gold continued to build off that, pushing their margin to a game-high 18-point lead at 59-41 with 11:43 to go on a three-pointer by Daniel Rosenber (So., Burnsville, Minn., Sports Management).

Unfortunately, Benedictine battled back and eventually cut the deficit to one at 68-67 with 2:22 remaining.  The Statesmen immediately answered with a trifecta by Malik Edwards (Fr., Drexel Hill, Pa., Business Management).  After a defensive stop, Cruesoe then added a second-chance jumper on the following possession, and Edwards wrapped up the scoring with two free throws with 25 seconds left.  After getting within one point, BC was thwarted on its final four possessions.

William Penn was outrebounded 36-33, but was fortunately only outscored 7-6 in second-chance points.  The Statesmen also finished on top despite shooting just 29.7% from the perimeter (11-for-37) and 50.0% at the free-throw line (6-for-12).

Edwards once again led WPU in scoring with 20 points, including making five three-pointers.  Cruesoe added 16 points, while James Pennington (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Sports Management) poured in 14 points and seven assists.

Eddie Daley (Grad., DeWitt, Mich., Master's of Organizational Leadership) headlined the rebounding efforts with seven rebounds, while Rodrigo Soares (So., Dallas, Texas, Sports Management) provided a spark off the bench with 12 points (four three-pointers).

"I'm not completely sure how we won this game, but winning is winning," Head Coach John Henry said.  "Like we always say around here on Trueblood Avenue, by 1 or 100, it doesn't matter.  Just win."

Up Next: The Statesmen will be traveling down to Canton, Mo. Wednesday to take on Culver-Stockton in a Heart contest at 7:30 p.m.