FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Mansfield men fall to Cheyney 76-67 in regular season finale – Will host Wolves this Tuesday in opening round of PSAC playoffs in Decker Gymnasium

Box Score

CHEYNEY – Cheyney outscored Mansfield 6-0 over the last 70 seconds of the game to hold on for a must-win victory over the first place Mountaineers to the final PSAC East playoff spot Saturday afternoon at Cope Hall.

The two teams will meet again Tuesday at Mansfield's Decker Gymnasium in the opening round of the PSAC playoffs with the PSAC East No. 1 seed Mansfield hosting the No. 4 seed Wolves. Kutztown, the No. 2 seed, will host No. 3 seeded East Stroudsburg also on Tuesday

Senior Sharif Bray scored a game-high 32 points, including 22 of them in the second half, to give the desperate Wolves the final playoff spot after East Stroudsburg beat Shippensburg and Bloomsburg beat West Chester. Cheyney only chance for a playoff berth was a win over division-leading Mansfield.

Mansfield won the PSAC East title for the second straight season with a 10-4 conference mark while Kutztown finished second at 9-5 and will host No. 3 East Stroudsburg which tied with No. 4 Cheyney with 8-6 records but got the higher seed due to tie-breaker criteria.

Mansfield got off to a slow start trailing 20-8 nine minutes into the game on a jumper by Cheyney's David Burton.

The Mountaineers slowly clawed their way back into contention cutting the lead to 28-25 on a layup by Charles Harper with 5:38 remaining until halftime and tied the game at 35-35 on Josh Dupuy's layup two seconds before intermission.

Mansfield seemed to final come to life to start the second half going on a 9-4 run over the first three minutes of the second half to take a 44-39 lead on a 3-pointer from senior Donny Lyons. But on the next series Mansfield's Yuseff Carr was forced the leave the game with a cut over his eye and Cheyney took advantage of his absence to go on a 11-0 run taking a 50-44 lead on a Burton layup three minutes later.
Mansfield kept the score close pulling to 50-47 on a Dupuy layup with just under 13 minutes to go and 70-67 with two free throws from Kurtis Levere with 1:10 remaining in the game.

But Bray and Burton hit four free throws over the last 40 seconds and a Burton dunk off a steal with 14 seconds remaining sealed the win.

Mansfield played much of the game without second-leading scorer Derrison Anthony who played a season-low 17 minutes due to foul trouble scoring just five points. The Mountaineers, who managed to shot just 29.6% in the second half, connected on just 39.3% of their shots the lowest shooting percentage since a loss at West Chester seven games ago.

Carr was the only Mountaineer to score in double-figures scoring 24 points and pulling down 13 rebounds to record his fifth double-double of the season. Tony Fannick scored nine points with a game-high four assists while Kurtis Levere and Josh Dupuy each scored eight points off the bench.

Bray led Cheyney (18-8, 8-6 PSAC East) with 32 points and was a perfect 5-5 on 3-point attempts and 11-11 from the free throw line. Burton also posted a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
The loss snapped a five-game winning-streak for Mansfield which ends the regular season with a 18-8 overall record and 10-4 in PSAC play.

The two teams split their regular season matchups with Mansfield winning 78-70 earlier in the season at Decker Gymnasium.