MOUNTIES FALL AGAIN IN FINAL SECONDS – DROP 70-68 THRILLER TO SHIPPENSBURG

MANSFIELD – Chuck Davis hit two free throws with 7.6 seconds remaining to lift Shippensburg to a 70-68 win over Mansfield in a PSAC crossover contest Wednesday evening in Decker Gymnasium.

Mansfield had tied the score at 68-68 on a Carlos Collazo jumper thirty seconds before Davis was fouled and hit both free throws. Mansfield inbounded the ball successfully, but couldn’t get a shot off in suffering their second straight last seconds loss in two days.

“It should have never come down to this,” said head coach Rich Miller. “Not getting a shot off in the final seconds would have never mattered if we had been able to hit our free throws down the stretch. I’m not sure how good of a team were are right now, but we’re not good enough to miss nine of twenty free throws and beat a team as talented as Shippensburg.”

Shippensburg came into Decker Gymnasium with the best record of any PSAC team at 8-2 after coming from behind to beat East Stroudsburg Tuesday night.

The game was a hard fought battle though out with neither team ever able to manage a double digit lead.

It was also a contest of two distinctly different halves. Mansfield held a 42-40 lead in the first half, but both team managed to combine for just 56 points in the second half.

Mansfield would build a game high nine point lead with 10:50 to play on a layup by Collazo giving the Mountaineers a 58-49 advantage. But Shippensburg turned up the defensive pressure with Mansfield getting off just two shots (both misses) over the next five minutes resulting in a 60-60 tie with 5:49 to go. MU missed five of seven free throws over the span.

Shippensburg would increase the lead to 66-60 over the next two minutes before a David Hoopes 3-pointer cut the lead to three and freshman Chris Greene tied the score on another 3-pointer at 66-66 with just over a minute to play.

The Mountaineers had four players in double figures with David Hoopes scoring 14 points with Andrae Martin and Chris Greene adding 12 each. Brandon DeShields had 10 points while Martin just missed a double-double with a game high nine rebounds.

Chuck Davis scored a game high 19 points for Shippensburg with Marcus Hudson adding 18 points.

Mansfield falls to 4-3 on the season with all three losses coming by a combined total of four points.

Newspaper Box Score

Shippensburg University vs Mansfield University

12/21/05 7:30 at Decker Gymnasium

At Decker Gymnasium

SHIPPENSBURG UNIVERSITY 70, MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY 68

SHIPPENSBURG UNIVERSITY (9-2)

DAVIS, Chuck 6-17 6-10 19; HUDSON, Marcus 7-10 2-2 18; KRAFT, Ryan 3-6 0-0

9; JOHNSON, Todd 2-5 2-2 6; WILLIAMS, Jamal 2-4 0-0 6; SCOTT, Seth 3-7 0-0

6; PARKER, Malik 1-1 0-0 3; VAINCOEUR, Gary 0-5 2-4 2; WOJDOWSKI, Greg 0-1

1-3 1; ABDUS-SALAAM, Khalil 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-57 13-21 70.

MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY (4-3)

HOOPES, David 5-12 0-0 14; MARTIN, Andrae 5-10 0-0 12; GREENE, Chris 3-5 4-6

12; DESHIELDS, Brandon 3-7 2-2 10; WILLIAMS, Terrance 2-9 4-5 9; COLLAZO,

Carlos 3-7 1-7 7; MORTIMER, Denny 1-1 0-0 2; KRESS, Justin 1-3 0-0 2;

HAMPTON, John 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-55 11-20 68.

Shippensburg University.......   40   30  -   70

Mansfield University..........   42   26  -   68

3-point goals-Shippensburg University 9-19 (KRAFT, Ryan 3-5; HUDSON, Marcus

2-4; WILLIAMS, Jamal 2-2; DAVIS, Chuck 1-7; PARKER, Malik 1-1), Mansfield

University 11-24 (HOOPES, David 4-9; MARTIN, Andrae 2-5; DESHIELDS, Brandon

2-4; GREENE, Chris 2-2; WILLIAMS, Terrance 1-3; COLLAZO, Carlos 0-1). Fouled

out--Shippensburg University-None, Mansfield University-None.

Rebounds-Shippensburg University 37 (VAINCOEUR, Gary 6), Mansfield

University 38 (MARTIN, Andrae 9). Assists-Shippensburg University 13

(HUDSON, Marcus 5), Mansfield University 14 (DESHIELDS, Brandon 4). Total

fouls-Shippensburg University 20, Mansfield University 21. A-167

Khalil Abdus-Salaam ejected from the game with 8:19 to play in the game.