Statesmen Use Incredible Run to Drop East-West in Opener

Chicago, Ill.--After a lackluster opening, the new-look William Penn men's basketball team did exactly what its predecessors used to do and went on a huge run to grab control and run away from East-West in a 97-80 season-opening victory at the Governors State Tip-Off Classic Friday.

#19 WPU (1-0) trailed by as many as 13 points, but posted a 26-1 run to grab its first win of the new campaign.

The Statesmen, who outshot the Phantoms 60.6%-42.4%, forced a turnover on the first play of the game and CJ Washington (Sr., Houston, Texas, Sports Management) finished on the other end.  The teams went back and forth in the early minutes with the navy and gold holding a 14-11 edge before East-West (0-1) pulled ahead and eventually led 46-33 with 3:49 to go until halftime.

Washington, one of WPU's few returners, realizing the game was getting a bit hairy, then became a one-man wrecking crew and scored 11 of his team's final 16 points of the period, including a trio of three-pointers, as William Penn closed out the half on a 16-1 run.

Up 49-47 at intermission and still on fire, the Statesmen started the first 2:58 of the latter stanza with 10 unanswered points and led the Phantoms by double digits the rest of the evening, including being up 91-70 in the waning minutes.

After allowing East-West to shoot 57.1% in the first half, William Penn slowed down its foe to 30.8% after the break.  Conversely, the Statesmen were exactly 20-for-33 (60.6%) in each period.

The navy and gold won the rebounding battle 45-37, including 13 offensive rebounds that were converted into a 28-15 edge in second-chance points.

Unfortunately, WPU had to overcome 19 turnovers (13 for East-West) which resulted in a 30-13 deficit in points off mistakes.  The victors also had to make up for being outscored 17-8 at the free throw line.  After going just 2-for-7 at the stripe in the first half, the Statesmen improved to 6-for-7 in the second stanza.

Headlined by his push during the game-defining run, Washington finished with 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting (4-for-6 3-PT).  Overall, the navy and gold were 9-for-23 from behind the arc.

Jaz Farrell (Sr., Miramar, Fla., Undecided) was also efficient in his Statesmen debut, scoring 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting.  The senior dished out five assists as well.

Jayvin Brown (So., Waldorf, Md., Business Management) joined the double-figure club with 12 points, while threatening a triple-double with an additional eight assists and seven rebounds (both team highs).

Justin Bradley (Jr., Okinawa, Japan, Biology) paced the bench with nine points, while Shug Sneed (Jr., Chicago, Ill., Computer Science) and Larontae Mormant (Sr., Bloomington, Minn., Business Management) contributed eight apiece.  Abdoulaye Ba (Jr., Chicago, Ill., Business Management) also managed six in a non-starting role.  All 12 Statesmen who played eventually scored in the game.

Farrell and Sneed guided the defense with two blocks each.

"We are a work in progress, so we are happy to get the win in the season opener," Head Coach John Henry said.  "It is really nice that every player who got in the game was able to score."

Next Up: William Penn will conclude the Classic Saturday by facing IU Kokomo in the championship game at 2 p.m.