WPU Cruises to Fourth-Straight Conference Tournament Title

Oskaloosa--The William Penn men's basketball team completed the sweep of Heart of America Athletic Conference crowns Tuesday, defeating #2 seed Peru State 95-82 in the Heart Finals.

The top-seeded Statesmen (28-3), which became the first school to win four Heart Tournament titles in a row, claimed its sixth crown in eight years since joining the league in 2015-2016.

William Penn rebounded the ball at a high rate as usual with a 51-25 dominance on the boards, including pulling down 18 on the offensive end for 23 second-chance points.  Equally as important, though, was that the victors outshot a normally very efficient Peru State squad 47.7%-41.7%.

The Statesmen tend to list free-throw shooting as a liability, but not on Tuesday night as the victors were an incredible 26-for-28 for a 92.9% mark.

The bout witnessed five ties and three lead changes, all coming in the first half.  William Penn took an 18-13 lead, but Peru State (24-7) responded and eventually led 32-26 before WPU sorted things out and went up 41-36 at intermission.

The Statesmen extended their margin to 46-38 early in the second stanza after a Malik Edwards (Fr., Drexel Hill, Pa., Business Management) three-pointer. The turning point of the game, however, came shortly thereafter.  With the Statesmen ahead 50-38 after a dunk by Eddie Daley (Grad., DeWitt, Mich., Master's of Organizational Leadership), both a Bobcat player and his coach were served technical fouls.  James Pennington (Sr., Calumet City, Ill., Sports Management) knocked down four free throws and the Statesmen celebration was on.

WPU's lead remained in double figures the rest of the way, eventually growing to as large as 20 at 94-74 in the waning seconds before PSC knocked down some late, inconsequential shots.

The Statesmen overcame 11 three-pointers by the Bobcats as they made seven of their own on a 36.8% clip.  William Penn also had had to make up for 20 turnovers (9 for PSC), which led to a significant 21-4 deficit in points off mistakes.

Edwards was an efficient scorer in the title game, posting a team-high 24 points on 9-for-13 shooting. Chanze Cruesoe (Jr., St. Louis, Mo., Business Management) also had an all-around big outing with 15 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, while Daley (15 points, 9 rebounds) and Muneer Newton (Fr., Philadelphia, Pa., Business Management) (11 points, 9 rebounds) both narrowly missed double-doubles.

Daniel Autrey (Jr., Detroit, Mich., Business Management) contributed nine points off the bench., and Pennington was good for eight, doing all of his work at the line (8-for-8).  CJ Washington (Jr., Houston, Texas) finished with six points as well.

"Such a great evening for Statesmen basketball," said Head Coach John Henry. "Nobody would have thought we could do this, the players and staff deserve so much praise."

Next Up: William Penn, which had already secured an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship by winning the regular season Heart title, will find out who they play in the Opening Round on Thursday.  The NAIA's selection show is set for 7 p.m.