Robinson

SHEPHERDSTOWN — It’s been a season to remember with a smile and satisfied memories for the Shepherd University men’s basketball team.

Not only did this Rams’ edition have one of the best records in the 16 years Justin Namolik has been the head coach, but they just hosted a conference tournament game at home on Monday in the Butcher Center.

The regular season closed with an important road win at Millersville University, giving Shepherd third place in the PSAC’s East Division and a first-round tournament game versus Shippensburg University. Should the Rams, who carried an 18-10 overall record into Monday’s tournament opener against the struggling Red Raiders, have won that game they then traveled to face East Stroudsburg on Wednesday in the quarterfinals. A win over the Warriors would have sent Shepherd into the semifinals tomorrow, again on the road at the home of the higher seeded team.

Shepherd’s eye-opening victory at Millersville closed the league’s regular season and finalized the Division standings. West Chester University finished atop the nine-team standings with East Stroudsburg University in second. Shepherd was third and Millersville (17-11 overall) was fourth. Lock Haven University and Shippensburg University were the other two tournament qualifiers from the East. That means Bloomsburg, Mansfield and Kutztown were the only three schools from the East not to qualify for the 12-team tournament.

In its win at Millersville, the Rams used seven players and four of them played at least 30 minutes each.

Chase Paar

Marcus Banks scored 19 points in 36 minutes, Jarod Robinson had 17 points in 36 minutes, Chase Paar totaled 16 points in 35 minutes and Brody Davis finished with five points in his 30 minutes of playing time. Carson Poffenberger, Cole Paar and Elwyne Wordlaw were the other three players used by Coach Namolik.

Shepherd held a 46-37 lead at the half — one of the Rams’ highest scoring halves of the entire season.

Namolik’s other highwater seasons were the 2013-2014 campaign, where Shepherd was 20-10, and 2016-2017, when its record was 19-11.

If the Rams did indeed defeat visiting Shippensburg, a team they defeated twice during the regular season, then Wednesday’s tournament quarterfinal gave them a chance to tie Namolik’s all-time season high in victories.

Gannon and Slippery Rock were the two top-seeded teams in the tournament from the West Division. Both those teams had first-round byes and went directly into the quarterfinals — the same as West Chester and East Stroudsburg did from the East Division.

Banks

The winner and survivor of the PSAC Tournament earns a berth in the upcoming NCAA Division II National Tournament. Any of the other conference teams with worthy records are eligible for at-large bids to that same tournament.

Davis