Strong First Half Powers WPU Past CMU

Fayette, Mo.--The William Penn men's basketball team used a big first half Saturday to help it conquer Heart of America Athletic Conference foe Central Methodist 95-86 in the final game of the regular season.

The Statesmen (25-3, 21-1 Heart), which outscored the Eagles (17-11, 14-8 Heart) 48-30 in the first half, used their shooting to separate themselves.  The visitors were 43.5% (10-23) from being the arc and 43.6% (24-78) overall from the field. Despite being without its top rebounder Eddie Daley (Grad., DeWitt, Mich., Master's of Organizational Leadership), WPU was still able to lead in that category, 48-39.

Central Methodist had the advantage from the field, making 45.2% of its shots, but was just 19.2% from the perimeter.

William Penn jumped out to a 9-2 lead just four minutes into the game with Muneer Newton (Fr., Philadelphia, Pa., Business Management) going on a 6-0 run by himself. Most of the first half witnessed the visitors holding a double-digit separation; they closed out the stanza on a 16-5 run to increase their lead to a game-high 18 points at 48-30.

Central Methodist slowly started to make its way back into the game, closing to within five at 50-45 just five minutes into the second half. A battle of trying to keep the lead under double digits ensued throughout the rest of the half with the Statesmen answering every time CMU came calling. A CMU jumper eventually closed the gap to just one at 77-76 with 4:05 left on the clock, but a host of free throws and a bucket by Malik Edwards (Fr., Drexel Hill, Pa., Business Management) extended the lead to six at 82-76.

Down the stretch, WPU miss from the field and connected on enough free throws to hold off the Eagles.  Three nights after their charity stripe shooting caused them to lose their only Heart game of the year, the Statesmen ended up 17-25 (68.0%) from the line to secure the win.

Edwards had another huge outing, scoring 29 points in the win on 5-10 from behind the arc and 12-19 from the field. Newton shined along with his co-star from Philadelphia, having a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.

DJ Purnell (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management) also hit double figures with 12 points in just 15 minutes of game action off the bench.  The backcourt duo Chanze Cruesoe (Jr., St. Louis, Mo., Business Management) and James Pennington (Sr., Calumet City, Ill., Sports Management) each finished with nine points, while Cruesoe had eight rebounds and five assists.

Daniel Autrey (Jr., Detroit, Mich., Business Management) also had nine points in a non-starting role with three three-pointers.  Rodrigo Soares (So., Dallas, Texas, Sports Management) contributed six points and six rebounds as wlel.

"We adapted to some transportation issues and gutted a win out," Head Coach John Henry said.  "My staff did a great job in practice to prepare for this game.  I am so happy for all of these players.  We went 21-1 in a very good league.  Our bench players were awesome; it was a total team win."

Next Up: The Statesmen will return to Oskaloosa Thursday to host Benedictine in the Heart Tournament Quarterfinals at 6 p.m.