Complete Game Leads Statesmen Over Eagles

Oskaloosa--The William Penn men's basketball team used a huge run to pull away and remain undefeated in the Heart of America Athletic Conference with an 89-72 win over Central Methodist Saturday.

William Penn (9-2, 5-0 Heart) once again led the rebounding battle, holding 56-34 edge against the Eagles (5-4, 3-2).  The hosts' 15-4 advantage led to a 16-4 mark in second-chance points.

The game started off with a bit of a commotion as the officials whistled both teams for a technical foul in hopes of corralling emotions.  The double technical, which occurred with the game tied at 10-10, ended up fueling the Statesmen as they erupted for a game-changing 17-0 run. Muneer Newton (Fr., Philadelphia, Pa., Business Management) started the run with a dunk and Brian Rios (Jr., El Paso, Texas, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management) finished it four minutes later with a three-pointer.

Staying in front the rest of the night, WPU led 43-28 going into halftime.

William Penn was challenged a few times in the second stanza, including seeing the Eagles pull to within nine at 46-37 with 16:49 still remaining.  Fortunately, the navy and gold responded and pushed the margin back to a game-high 18 at 62-44 and they cruised from there.

In addition to their dominance on the glass, the Statesmen also held a sizeable shooting edge at 47.9%-38.6%.  Both sides struggled from the perimeter with CMU winning the battle at 25.0%-22.7%.

William Penn, with 15 turnovers, and Central Methodist, with 14, were not perfect in regards to ball control, while the home squad was also a bit sub-par at the line at 14-for-21.  WPU did, however, outscore CMU (10-for-13) by four at the charity stripe.

Malik Edwards (Fr., Drexel Hill, Pa., Business Management) once again led the Statesmen in scoring with 17 points. Daniel Autrey (Jr., Detroit, Mich., Business Management) accounted for 16 of the teams 31 bench points, while also adding in nine rebounds. Eddie Daley (Grad., DeWitt, Mich., Master's of Organizational Leadership) recorded a double-double in the game with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Chanze Cruesoe (Jr., St. Louis, Mo., Business Management) posted a strong stat line as well with 11 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists.  Newton accounted for 10 points and seven rebounds, while James Pennington (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Sports Management) and Rodrigo Soares (So., Dallas, Texas, Sports Management) both finished with seven.

"I really like our team; we are coming along nicely," Head Coach John Henry said.  "With that said, we still need to keep working and stay with the effort we have had lately.  We don't shoot it too well, but our rebounding is top level.  Eddie Daley, James Pennington, and Chanze Cruesoe are solid leaders for this year's team, and it is fun to watch this all materialize,"

"There were some Central Methodist signs on the square and near our campus that served as great motivation for us," Henry added.

Up Next: The Statesmen will close out 2022 hosting Graceland in a Heart matchup next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.