Mounties Playoff Hopes Die on the Free Throw Line at West Chester -- Bell Becomes First Mountie to Surpass 1900 Point Milestone

WEST CHESTER – Mansfield saw its PSAC playoff hopes slip away on the free throw lines of Hollinger Field House Wednesday night in a season ending 90-78 loss to West Chester.

West Chester scored 42 of its 90 points from the free throw line and shot 55 free throws in the game that featured a total of 54 fouls and 82 free throws.

The loss combined with Shippensburg's 76-53 win over Cheyney ended the Mountaineers PSAC playoff hopes. Although Mansfield and Shippensburg tied for sixth-place in the PSAC East, Shippensburg gets the final berth on a tiebreaker with a win over West Chester earlier in the season.

Mansfield was called for 33 total fouls with three starters, Joe Bell, Thomas Moore and Ralik Wise, fouling out of the game.

Mansfield erased an early 10-5 West Chester lead and used a 7-3 run midway through the first to take a 20-15 lead at the midway point of the first half.

West Chester countered with a 14-1 run over the next three minutes, taking a 29-21 lead on a pair of free throws by Raheem Hall. The Golden Rams would extend that lead to 46-31 with just under three minutes remaining before halftime before Mansfield closed the gap to 51-39 on a Eric Lewis layup at the buzzer.

West Chester made 21-of-24 free throws during the first half of play.

Mansfield roared out of the locker room in the second half with Thomas Moore scoring the Mountaineers first six points. Bell hit a layup to close the gap to 56-51 just over three minutes into the second half but Moore was whistled for his fourth foul seconds later sending him to the bench. He would pick up his fifth foul minutes later.

West Chester extended its lead to 60-52 but Mansfield rallied again pulling to 60-57 when Bell hit a layup and an ensuing layup seven minutes into the half.

But West Chester got back-to-back 3-pointers from Mike Wilson to go up 66-58 a minute later and take a double-digit 69-58 led with 11 minutes to go.

Mansfield never backed down and never gave up cutting the lead 75-67 on the first of two straight 3-pointers by senior Kamil Parcych with just over four minutes to play with both Moore and Bell on the bench after fouling out of the game.

Despite being in foul trouble, Pemberton recorded his third-straight double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Bell and Ralik Wise each added 14 points with Wise also pulling down eight rebounds.

Bell become the first player in Mansfield basketball history to surpass 1900 points in career scoring and ends his four-year run as the Mountaineers all-time leading scorer with 1904 points.

Parish Grant led West Chester with 19 points.