2024 PSAC champion Gannon men's basketball team
PSAC
74
California (PA) CUP 27-4,19-3 PSAC
89
Winner Gannon Gannon 29-2,20-2 PSAC
California (PA) CUP
27-4,19-3 PSAC
74
Final
89
Gannon Gannon
29-2,20-2 PSAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
California (PA) CUP 36 38 74
Gannon Gannon 35 54 89

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

No. 3 Golden Knights Defeat No. 8 California (Pa.) 89-74 for First PSAC Championship Since 2015

Omojafo scores 22 points to earn Tournament MVP honors

ERIE, Pa. – Josh Omojafo (Hamilton, Ontario/St. Jean de Brebeuf) scored 22 points and Derrick James (Columbus, Ohio/Canal Winchester) hit three big 3-pointers as third-ranked Gannon defeated No. 8 California (Pa.) 89-74 in the 2024 PSAC Championship at Hagerty Family Events Center. The Golden Knights extended their school-record winning streak to 18 games while remaining undefeated in home games at 19-0. Gannon is now 29-2 while Cal dipped to 27-4.

Gannon wins its first PSAC championship since 2015 and third overall. The Golden Knights also won the league crown in its first year as a member of the PSAC in 2008-09. Coupled with the women's basketball team's 80-65 win over Lock Haven in the women's championship game it marks the first time Gannon's men's and women's teams won PSAC titles in the same year. Indiana (Pa.) was the last PSAC school to accomplish the fete in 2019.

The meeting was the third between the two teams. Gannon, the PSAC West regular season champion, defeated the Vulcans 107-98 on February 3 at the Hagerty Family Events Center after Cal won the first meeting on January 6 by a 99-84 margin.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS GOING DANCING
Sunday's win gives Gannon the PSAC's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Division II National Championships. The NCAA will announce the field of 64 teams later this evening. Gannon has qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018. The 29 wins are one shy of the school record set in 2008-09 when the Golden Knights finished at 30-4.

First-year head coach Jordan Fee has engineered the biggest turnaround ever in the NCAA. Fee took over a team that went 3-23 a year ago and has now guided the Golden Knights to a 29-2 ledger.

GANNON TRAILS AT HOME AT HALFTIME FOR FIRST TIME THIS SEASON
The final margin of Sunday's game ended up being Gannon's largest lead of the day. It certainly doesn't indicate how tight the contest actually was. In the first half alone the lead changed hands 16 times along with 10 lead changes. The largest lead by either team was five points.

Gannon found itself trailing at the half 36-35. It was just the fourth time all year the Golden Knights trailed at the half and the first at home.

It took 28 seconds in the second half for the Golden Knights to take the lead for good. Omojafo, who was limited to just eight minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, drilled a jumper for a 37-36 lead. He followed with a second jumper and James scored on a layup following a Nigel Haughton (Bel Air, Md./South Kent) steal for a 41-36 lead just two minutes into the half.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS UNABLE TO PULL AWAY UNTIL LATE
Gannon would never trail following Omojafo's bucket to begin the second half but the Vulcans refused to go away. With PSAC West Player of the Year KJ McClung constantly hitting long jumpers Cal remained within striking distance until just over five minutes to play when the Golden Knights were able to gain a little breathing room.

Holding on to a 69-66 lead, James scored on a jumper in the paint then made two free throws. Donald Whitehead, Jr. answered with a layup for the Vulcans, but freshman Ernest Shelton (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) drained a 3-pointer and Hobbs finished the 9-2 run with two more throws for a 10-point lead at 78-68 with 2:33 remaining. Gannon held Cal to just one field goal over a close to four-minute stretch.

GANNON MAKES GOOD FROM CHARITY STRIPE AT END OF GAME
Gannon's final 13 points came from the foul line as the Vulcans were forced to foul. Over the final 2 minutes, 3 seconds Gannon made 10-of-10 free throws before a miss with 27 seconds remaining. The Golden Knights came in ranked number one in the PSAC in free throw percentage and ending up going 25-of-29 at the charity stripe.

OMOJAFO NAMED TOURNAMENT MVP
Omojafo followed up a 30-point effort in Saturday's semifinal win with 22 points in the title game. The sophomore guard from Hamilton, Ontario was named the PSAC Tournament MVP. He made 5-of-11field goals, including a 3-pointer, along with going a perfect 11-of-11 at the line. He added six rebounds and two assists. Omojafo has now scored 623 points this season, the fifth-highest season total, while setting school records for free throws made (210) and attempted (257) in a season. He has scored 20-or-more points in 17 games.

Omojafo led four Golden Knights in double figures. James contributed 17 points including three 3-pointers in the second half that helped Gannon maintain its lead. The sophomore guard was 6-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-4 on 3-pointers.

Reserves Shelton and Derrick Anderson (Youngstown, Ohio/Boardman) came up huge off the bench, combining for 24 points. Shelton made 4-of-6 3-pointers to finish with 13 points while Anderson had 11 points in 15 minutes.

Hobbs fell just shy of double figures with nine points but the 6-foot-4 swingman played a huge role on the glass with a team-high eight rebounds and went 6-for-6 at the line, adding three assists. Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Philadelphia Montgomery Christian Academy) contributed eight points while freshman Mike Montano (Alexandria, Va./Thomas Edison) had five points and five rebounds and Haughton had five boards to go with five assists and a pair of steals.

McClurg led Cal with 20 points while Bryson Lucas added 18 points. Jermaine Hall, Jr. finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds.

BY THE NUMBERS
After shooting just 36.7 percent in the first half (11-of-30) the Golden Knights went 16-of-28 from the floor over the final 20 minutes (57.1 pct.) to finish the night at 46.6 percent. The Golden Knights would limit Cal to 38.2 percent (26-of-68). Gannon made 10-of-23 3-pointers while the Vulcans were good on 6-of-31.

Cal would hold a scant 40-39 lead on the boards, with the Vulcans committing 12 turnovers and Gannon 10. Gannon turned those turnovers into points, however, showing a 22-7 edge in points off turnovers. The Gannon bench outscored Cal's 31-7.    
 
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