Ernest Shelton vs. Virginia State
66
Virginia St. VS 22-9,12-3 CIAA
92
Winner Gannon Gannon 27-6,17-3 PSAC
Virginia St. VS
22-9,12-3 CIAA
66
Final
92
Gannon Gannon
27-6,17-3 PSAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Virginia St. VS 21 45 66
Gannon Gannon 39 53 92

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

Shelton Scores Career-High 32 Points as Gannon Runs Past Virginia State in Atlantic Regional Semifinals

Golden Knights to face West Liberty in regional championship game on Tuesday

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Ernest Shelton (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) scored a career-high 32 points to lead No. 2 seed Gannon to a 92-66 win over No. 3 Virginia State on Sunday night in the semifinals of the NCAA Div. II Atlantic Regional at West Liberty's ASRC. The defending Atlantic Regional champions, the Golden Knights will play for a second straight trip to the Elite Eight on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. against West Liberty. The Hilltoppers defeated Fayetteville State 89-69 in Sunday's other semifinal.

Gannon extended its winning streak to 11 games in a row and is now 27-6 on the season. The 27 wins under first-year head coach Easton Bazzoli are the fourth-highest season total. Virginia State saw its season come to a close at 22-9.

Gannon defeated the CIAA champion Trojans 89-65 in the third game of the season in early November. The Golden Knights left nothing to chance in Sunday's return meeting. They took the lead for good just over two minutes into the game on Justin DeBuck's (Broward County, Fla./Pembroke Pines Charter) 3-pointer and used a 16-2 run to pull ahead 39-21 at the half.

The second half turned into an up-and-down the court affair with Gannon outscoring Virginia State 53-45. After scoring eight points in the opening 20 minutes Shelton came out and scored 15 of Gannon's first 24 points in the second half.

Virginia State found more offensive success in the second half attacking the basket, but Gannon continued to forced turnovers and seemingly answered every Trojans' hoop with one of their own.

The lead finally grew to 30 points at 88-58 with just under three minutes to play as Bazzoli emptied the bench for the final five minutes.

Shelton made three of his signature 3-pointers but the 6-foot-5 sophomore constantly drove to the basket. He went to the free throw line 13 times, making 11, while going 9-for-20 from the floor.

Gannon now faces top-seeded West Liberty (29-4) on the Hilltoppers' homecourt. A year ago Gannon handed West Liberty a 103-88 defeat in the Atlantic Regional semifinals.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Gannon trailed just twice in the game, the last at 4-3, and the game also saw just one tie at 6-6. The Golden Knights used a 9-2 run to pull ahead 19-11. Tasman Goodrick (Sydney, Australia/St. Joseph's College) accounted for four of the points.

Virginia State closed to 19-15 but Gannon answered with the next nine points as the Golden Knights consistently forced the Trojans into turnovers. Justin DeBuck (Broward County, Fla./Pembroke Pines Charter) started the run with a turnaround jumper and Ernest Shelton (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) followed with a jumper to make it 23-15. DeBuck added a 3-pointer and Goodrick closed out the run with a pair of free throws. That made it 28-15 with just over five minutes remaining in the half.

The Trojans ended the run with a basket but Gannon scored the next seven points to make it a 16-2 run. Shelton hit a baseline jumper and Goodrick added a basket. DeBuck's third 3-pointer of the half gave Gannon a 35-17 lead. Gannon would go into halftime ahead 39-21.

The Trojans came out looking to press the action in the second half but they could never get closer than 14 points. That came at 43-29 three minutes into the half. Pace Prosser (Berlin, Pa./Berlin Brothersvalley) stepped up and made his lone basket of the night, a 3-pointer, to build the lead back up to 17 points and Layne Sarver (New Madison, Ohio/Tri-Village) drained a three the next time down and the lead was back to 19 at 49-30.

Gannon had one last run to eliminate any more comeback hopes. With DeBuck contributing six of the points, the Golden Knights ran off 11 straight points for a 78-71 lead with 7:25 remaining.  

BY THE NUMBERS
Gannon despite shooting just 37.8 percent from the floor (28-of-74), and in fact was outshot by the Trojans. Virginia State shot just under 50 percent in the second half to finish at 40.6 percent (26-of-64). But the Golden Knights made 10-of-29 3-pointers while VSU was 2-of-14. In addition Gannon was 26-of-36 at the line and Virginia State (12-of-20).

Gannon forced Virginia State into 23 turnovers while committing just 13. That led to an 18-9 edge in points off turnovers. In addition, Gannon held a 31-6 advantage in fast break points. The Golden Knights won the battle of the boards 48-46.

Ernest Shelton (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) led Gannon with a career-high 32 points, adding five rebounds. The sophomore guard made 9-of-20 field goals, including 3-of-10 3-pointers, and was 11-of-13 at the line.

Justin DeBuck (Broward County, Fla./Pembroke Pines Charter) battled foul trouble most of the game but still finished with 19 points in 24 minutes. He was 6-of-12 from the floor, making 3-of-5 3-pointers, and was 4-for-6 at the line.

Tasman Goodrick (Sydney, Australia/St. Joseph's College) was a third Golden Knight in double figures while posting his 19th double-double. The 6-foot-9 sophomore scored 12 points, all in the first half, while pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds. He had three steals.

Layne Sarver (New Madison, Ohio/Tri-Village) and Mason Kemp (Shawnee, Kan./Mill Valley) paced another strong showing by the bench with eight points apiece.
 
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