Daggett, Preston overwhelm Lock Haven

Stephens
- Stephens
- Jordan
- Preston
- Daggett
Badly in need of some sort of winning streak, Shepherd loosed twin scorers Kyle Daggett and Jon Preston on the needy Bald Eagles on Saturday at the Butcher Center.
Shackled with a 9-10 overall record and languishing in sixth place in the nine-team East Division of the PSAC, the Rams have much work to do just to qualify for the four-team conference tournament now rushing toward the forefront of the dwindling schedule.
In breezing past the Bald Eagles (6-12 overall and 3-12 in the league), Shepherd provided its faithful with some realistic hope of salvaging a tournament place in late February.
Daggett all but ruined the depth-deprived visitors on the inside with his tour de force performance that showed him scoring 28 points and claiming 11 rebounds. Preston picked a perfect time to notch his season-high 20 points with near-perfect aim from three-point range. He connected on over 85 percent of his long-range shot-attempts.

Jordan
Coach Justin Namolik’s selection of a 2-3 zone defense to pester the inside-barren offense of the Bald Eagles was more than just useful. The defense not only closed the inside to any penetration or shot-attempts, but also helped the Rams to a telling 38-25 rebounding advantage.
Playing with all guards and forwards, the height-challenged Bald Eagles never bothered Shepherd in the half court.
In swarming Lock Haven with a streak of points in the last three minutes of the opening half, Shepherd had a 38-28 lead at the intermission. The Rams outpointed the Bald Eagles, 18-6, in the last minutes before the half closed. Shepherd already held a 20-10 rebounding edge.
Not long after the second half began, Daggett had 20 points. Mishandled passes and offensive trips that couldn’t even produce one shot were dissolving Lock Haven’s chances of making any inroads into the now-formidable Shepherd lead.
Preston wasn’t shooting as often, but when he did the Ram bench rose in unison even before his three-pointers rippled through the net.

Preston
Complimented by their floor games and enough scoring, the Rams were helped along to expanding leads by Cam Stephens and Phillip Jordan, both of whom scored 12 points.
Shepherd had shelled Lock Haven.
Was it a vision of what was waiting in back-to-back games against feisty West Chester and then more qualified conference teams?
Or was it just a tease of what will happen in the last month of the schedule before the Rams fail to qualify for the conference tournament?

Daggett