Statesmen Take Victory After Back-and-Forth Battle Against East-West

Chicago, Ill.—The William Penn men's basketball team was not at its best, but did enough to claim a 70-65 victory over East-West in the Governors State Classic Saturday. 

WPU (2-0) trailed East-West (0-4) by 10 points early, but rallied in the second half to post a perfect weekend to begin the year.

William Penn, which was outshot 40.7%-35.8% by the Phantoms, went back and forth with EWU all afternoon.  The Phantoms eventually caught fire and pushed their advantage to 22-12.  The Statesmen responded with a couple of runs to narrow East-West's lead to just one point by halftime at 31-30.

The navy and gold continued to see-saw with EWU in the second stanza. With 6:19 left in the match, WPU finally overtook its foe for good at 58-57 and didn't let go of the lead.

The Statesmen dominated the boards, securing a 52-34 rebounding edge, including 25 offensive rebounds that led to a decisive 20-10 advantage in second-chance points.  Jawuan Brown (Jr., Brooklyn, N.Y.) headlined that effort, pulling down 17 boards in addition to 11 points for a double-double.

Though WPU committed 19 turnovers (compared to East-West's 15), which translated into a 20-14 deficit in points off mistakes, thesquad powered through.  The most notable factor for William Penn's victory was its efforts at the free-throw line, going 16-for-19 (84.2%), while EWU was just 15-for-24 (62.5%).

Manny Hammonds (So., Des Moines, Iowa, New Media) did not have a great shooting performance (6-for-17), but still led the Statesmen scoring with 14 points.

Nine Statesmen tallied a point, including Roy Jones III (Jr., Pensacola, Fla.) and Isaac Hoberecht (Jr., Carl Junction, Mo.) with nine and eight, respectively.  Jacore Williams (Jr., Little Rock, Ark.) led the bench players with seven points, while the duo of Jamir Reed (Jr., Philadelphia, Pa.) and LeQuan Washington (Jr., Chicago, Ill.) both added five in non-starting roles.

Jones III also dished out two assists along with recording three steals.

As a whole, we weren't very good today," said Head Coach John Henry. "But we won, and that's all that matters."

Up Next: William Penn plays its first home contest in Penn Gymnasium next Tuesday against Northwestern at 5 p.m.