Statesmen Clinch Regular Season Conference Title and Trip to Nationals

Oskaloosa--The William Penn men's basketball team put on an offensive display Wednesday in a 112-89 blowout win over Heart of America Athletic Conference foe Clarke.

The Statesmen (22-2, 18-0 Heart), which clinched its fourth-straight league title and seventh in the last eight years, had one of their better shooting nights, going 52.9% (46-87) from the field. The Pride (11-14, 6-13 Heart) tried their best to keep up, shooting 45.2% but it was not enough. Rebounds also again went in favor of WPU as it grabbed a 51-34 advantage.  A 13-4 edge in offensive boards resulted in the navy and gold outscoring the Pride 16-2 in second-chance points.

The victors went out on top from the beginning and never looked back in the wire-to-wire triumph. William Penn dominated the paint with 62 points, while the non-starters also got into the action (51 bench points).

The Statesmen opened on a 12-0 run after a three-pointer by Malik Edwards (Fr., Drexel Hill, Pa., Business Management). The sophomore also ended the half with a floater to make it 59-40 at the half.

The second stanza continued on with the same theme of the first half as the Statesmen pulled out a game-high 28-point edge with 17:18 to play. CU made it interesting, however, with a 20-5 run, but WPU settled down and a pair of thunderous dunks by Muneer Newton (Fr., Philadelphia, Pa., Business Management) put an exclamation point on the game.

WPU's victory also secures an automatic berth to the NAIA National Championship, its 19th all-time and eight in a row.

Chanze Cruesoe (Jr., St. Louis, Mo., Business Management) paced William Penn in the scoring column with 16 points in addition to six rebounds. Four Statesmen tied for second on the squad as Edwards, Eddie Daley (Grad., DeWitt, Mich., Master's of Organizational Leadership), Muneer Newton (Fr., Philadelphia, Pa., Business Management), and CJ Washington (Jr., Houston, Texas) all had 12 points. Newton tallied another double-double with 11 rebounds, adding in five assists as well.  The Statesmen assisted on 26 of their 46 baskets.

James Pennington (Sr., Calumet City, Ill., Sports Management) and Brian Rios (Jr., El Paso, Texas, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management) both scored nine points, while DJ Purnell (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management) added eight.  Daniel Rosenber (So., Burnsville, Minn., Sports Management) and Jayvin Brown (So., Waldorf, Md., Sports Management) managed seven points apiece, and Daniel Autrey (Jr., Detroit, Mich., Business Management) ended the game with five points along with seven rebounds.  Rosenber also blocked a pair of shots Wednesday.

Both teams made 10 three-pointers, while the Statesmen overcame being outscored 13-10 at the free-throw line.  The teams were also protective of the ball, combining for just 17 turnovers (eight for WPU).

"This has been a remarkable season," said Head Coach John Henry. "I'm so happy for this group of players and coaches."

Next Up: William Penn travels to Atchison, Kan. Saturday for a battle with Benedictine in Heart play at 4 p.m.