PSAC EAST

[Ship69]

Inexperienced Ship team scrapped its way to an 81-77 overtime win over Wilmington Wednesday despite horrendous three-point shooting (1-for-14 in the second half), missed free throws at inopportune times (1-for-6 at one point in the OT), and some puzzling officiating. It was a game they probably should have won by 12-13 points, but Chris Fite will gladly take any win at this point, especially with a murderers' row schedule coming up in December. The Raiders did play good defense, and Ty Crespo and freshman Markus Frank continue to serve notice that they will be offensive forces this season. Crespo helped keep the Raiders alive with five three-pointers, and Wilmington couldn't keep Frank away from the basket as the former Quaker Valley star scored 27 points in just his third collegiate start. Transfer Kyle Whippen was a force on the boards with 19 rebounds, a couple of blocked shots, and 10 points of his own. The rest of the team was in a shooting funk, and that can't happen in December with IUP, California, Slippery Rock and Seton Hill scheduled as Ship's four PSAC West foes for the month. I see this team continuing to improve as coaches and players adjust to the new offensive system, but they certainly have some early storms to weather.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Inexperienced Ship team scrapped its way to an 81-77 overtime win over Wilmington Wednesday despite horrendous three-point shooting (1-for-14 in the second half), missed free throws at inopportune times (1-for-6 at one point in the OT), and some puzzling officiating. It was a game they probably should have won by 12-13 points, but Chris Fite will gladly take any win at this point, especially with a murderers' row schedule coming up in December. The Raiders did play good defense, and Ty Crespo and freshman Markus Frank continue to serve notice that they will be offensive forces this season. Crespo helped keep the Raiders alive with five three-pointers, and Wilmington couldn't keep Frank away from the basket as the former Quaker Valley star scored 27 points in just his third collegiate start. Transfer Kyle Whippen was a force on the boards with 19 rebounds, a couple of blocked shots, and 10 points of his own. The rest of the team was in a shooting funk, and that can't happen in December with IUP, California, Slippery Rock and Seton Hill scheduled as Ship's four PSAC West foes for the month. I see this team continuing to improve as coaches and players adjust to the new offensive system, but they certainly have some early storms to weather.

That's the worst crew in the PSAC -- and it isn't even close.

That's the 'show crew'. They think we are all there to see them. They are constantly out of position and routinely make blind calls. Two of them are far too out of shape to be officiating college basketball.

I cringe as soon as I see them. The game will be awful.

[Ship69]

That's the worst crew in the PSAC -- and it isn't even close.

That's the 'show crew'. They think we are all there to see them. They are constantly out of position and routinely make blind calls. Two of them are far too out of shape to be officiating college basketball.

I cringe as soon as I see them. The game will be awful.

I don't usually pay a lot of attention to who is officiating. Maybe I should. It was a very physical game. Ship had 19 fouls and in fairness most of them were deserved. Wilmington had 26 and probably could have had a bunch more. Their guards were about as "handsy" on defense as I've seen in a long time and were constantly reaching in and pushing our guys off stride, getting away with it much of the time. They had nobody who could handle Frank, so started getting physical with him the second half. He took at least four shots to the head including a couple of elbows, and got maybe one call out of it. He looks as if he put on a little weight his redshirt year, but he is still fairly thin and he took quite a physical beating. Andrew Recchia came down with a rebound late in OT, was surrounded by three Wilmington players who were hacking the beejesus out of him, and the foul was called on Recchia! The crowd was not in love with that one. Frank and Crespo will score for us, but they're going to need more help. We've had four or five guys who usually are decent three-point shooters who've just been ice cold so far. Recchia, who usually is fairly deadly from range (actually I'd usually like to see him take more shots), seemed out of sorts and had about as bad a shooting night as I've ever seen him have at Ship. This should be a better shooting team than it has been so far, and given the current physical limitations of the roster they'll need to be.

[jrshooter]

They just kept casting up the threes ... and Crespo was the only one who could hit them. It was borderline comical midway through the second half.

Crespo and Frank are legit PSAC scorers, though. And Whippen was a revelation last night -- 11 rebounds above his previous career high.

Can't take a single positive from the women's game, although Jefferson is quite good this year. 84-49 is closer than it seemed; they had the Raiders doubled up for most of the game.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

They just kept casting up the threes ... and Crespo was the only one who could hit them. It was borderline comical midway through the second half.

Crespo and Frank are legit PSAC scorers, though. And Whippen was a revelation last night -- 11 rebounds above his previous career high.

I think Whippen is up to 7'2" in the latest Ship program.

I was hoping IUP was going to land Frank. They offered him. He picked Fite.

[jrshooter]

I think Whippen is up to 7'2" in the latest Ship program.

I was hoping IUP was going to land Frank. They offered him. He picked Fite.

I don't know if this is his MO, and I don't even know if Ship69 will agree. But Frank's 27 points snuck up on me. He maneuvers into short to medium range, quietly scores and gets back on defense.

The sportswriter in me would have termed it "a workmanlike effort."

[Ship69]

I don't know if this is his MO, and I don't even know if Ship69 will agree. But Frank's 27 points snuck up on me. He maneuvers into short to medium range, quietly scores and gets back on defense.

The sportswriter in me would have termed it "a workmanlike effort."

I watched some of the kid's high school film, and that's his game. He has a real knack for getting to the basket and generally finishes when he gets there. He hardly ever shot a three-pointer in high school (think he only attempted two his entire senior year), but has already made a couple this year and seemed to have a decent touch at the FT line, which he'll need as he's going to get hacked a lot. I think it'll take a pretty quick and physical kid to stop him from getting to the basket. The next few teams on Ship's schedule feature some big, physical guys, so we'll see how he makes out. It was an impressive game. I don't know if I've ever watched a freshman at Ship score 27 points in his third start.

[Ship69]

They just kept casting up the threes ... and Crespo was the only one who could hit them. It was borderline comical midway through the second half.

Crespo and Frank are legit PSAC scorers, though. And Whippen was a revelation last night -- 11 rebounds above his previous career high.

Can't take a single positive from the women's game, although Jefferson is quite good this year. 84-49 is closer than it seemed; they had the Raiders doubled up for most of the game.

Whippen was all over the court. Showed a lot of agility at both ends of the court and played hard. They needed it as Figueroa's toughness inside was missed. With another big guy added after the break, this could be a pretty decent front court by the end of the season — too late, unfortunately, to help us in December.

I don't know what was up with the 3s. Martin, Mitchell, Dunn, Conner, and Recchia have all shown the ability to hit them in the past, but they were really clanking 'em Wednesday. That might be as bad as I've ever seen Recchia look shooting. Looked as if he was rushing a lot; he's one of those guys who needs to get his feet set well. Mitchell was a big scorer at Garrett CC, and I think he'll come around. Martin finally turned it on toward the end of regulation and into OT, although he was part of a string of missed FTs in OT. Fite mentioned after the game that they're all still learning how to get into the new system, and unfortunately Ship doesn't have the type of schedule to ease into it. I read the report by one of the West Liberty guys on their game with Chestnut Hill, and it looks as if that might be a tougher game than I was hoping — apparently CH has a lot of size. Meanwhile, Gannon plays a Penn State branch campus and puts up 146 points.

[jrshooter]

At the moment, 0-4 Chestnut Hill (!) is absolutely stuffing Ship. 25-14 at midway point of the first half.

EDIT: That was whittled down to 38-37 Ship in a hurry. (I believe CHC was being the best version of itself for 10 minutes.)

[jrshooter]

Markus Frank hits a fadeaway 18-footer at the buzzer off a botched inbounds; Ship (3-1) somehow outlasts Chestnut Hill 71-69. Raiders trailed by 13 with nine minutes left.

Crespo 15, Frank 14, Whippen 8 points and 15 boards. That's how it's gonna be.

[Ship69]

At the moment, 0-4 Chestnut Hill (!) is absolutely stuffing Ship. 25-14 at midway point of the first half.

EDIT: That was whittled down to 38-37 Ship in a hurry. (I believe CHC was being the best version of itself for 10 minutes.)

That was not a terrible 0-4 team. They played a pretty tough early schedule with Daemen, West Liberty, and Millersville and have a lot of size. The big guy from Spain they have in the middle seems to be pretty legit. Also, Ship was playing without both Figueroa and Mitchell. I know Figueroa had an ankle boot on at the Wilmington game What the deal was with Mitchell I don't know. It would certainly be helpful to have one or both of those guys back on the court before what probably is the most brutal stretch of their schedule starts Dec. 1

[jrshooter]

I haven't seen enough of Mitchell to form a judgment. But you are right, that was a good ballclub by Chestnut Hill standards.

[Ship69]

I haven't seen enough of Mitchell to form a judgment. But you are right, that was a good ballclub by Chestnut Hill standards.

I agree we don't have a big enough sample size on Mitchell to make a definitive judgment, but he averaged 20 ppg when playing at Garrett, which usually is a strong CC program. Plus he's a 6-5 guard on a team that badly needs height. Ship will probably have a rough December given the schedule, but this has the potential to be a competitive club in the East, especially with transfer help on the way next yeat. I'd hate to see some early season injuries derail their progress.

[Ship69]

Halftime: Shepherd 33, Bowie State 24

[Ship69]

Shepherd 60, Bowie State 54 final. Bowie State now 2-2 against the PSAC with wins over Lock Haven and Millersville, losses to Cal U. and Shepherd.