Cooper

On Monday, the Rams had surfaced with the early lead in the conference standings.

With different players topping the scoring list with regularity, the Rams have managed to beat every West Division team they’ve seen. With six players scoring at least 7.4 points a game, Shepherd often has found one or two players in any given game finding an eight- or 10-minute segment where they have scored seven or eight straight points.

First-year Ram Chase Paar has averaged 11.6 points a game. Chase’s brother, Cole, averages 7.4 points. And in between those two are Marcus Banks (10.1), Brody Davis (10.0), Jarod Robinson (8.4) and Carson Poffenberger (8.0). Freshman Elwyne Wordlaw has played in all 10 games, while never getting a start, and is scoring 4.9 points a game. Michael Cooper has helped in the player rotation and has scored 3.4 points a game.

The Rams have converted .679 of their free throws and have outrebounded their 10 opponents, 376-327.

Banks

Gannon, the leader in the West Division, provided the competition on Dec. 16 and Pitt-Johnstown will come to town tomorrow for the final pre-Christmas game on the schedule.

After the Pitt-Johnstown game in the Butcher Center, the Rams will be idle until the new year, when they will see East Division contender West Chester on Jan. 3.

Also in the East Division, where Shepherd has the early team lead, are the Golden Rams (8-2 overall), East Stroudsburg (also 8-2) and Millersville (standing at 6-4).

No other East Division team has a winning record.

No conference opponent this season has been able to dictate the game’s tempo when playing the Rams. Virginia State and unbeaten West Liberty have posted long wins against Shepherd, in games where free-flowing offenses owned the night and the hurried tempo was not to Shepherd’s liking.

Davis

It’s been a number of seasons since the Rams have welcomed the added significance of being amongst any conference teams seriously chasing a regular season championship, high seeding in the league’s tournament or even some realistic chance of playing in the NCAA Division II national tournament.

Shepherd’s healthy balance gives the 2024-2025 team something of a bright horizon . . . and reachable goals to aim at for its useful core of players.

Robinson

Poffenberger