Prosser vs. Virginia St
90
Gannon Gannon 27-7,17-3 PSAC
101
Winner West Liberty WL 30-4,18-2 MEC
Gannon Gannon
27-7,17-3 PSAC
90
Final
101
West Liberty WL
30-4,18-2 MEC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Gannon Gannon 47 43 90
West Liberty WL 51 50 101

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

Golden Knights Fall to West Liberty 101-90 in Atlantic Regional Championship Game

Goodrick, Shelton named to All-Tournament Team

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Gannon's reign as Atlantic Region champions came to an end on Tuesday night but the Golden Knights didn't go down without a fight. In a showdown between the No. 2 seed Golden Knights and top-seeded West Liberty, the Hilltoppers pulled away late to hand Gannon a 101-90 defeat at the ASRC.
 
West Liberty now moves on to the Elite Eight in Evansville, Ind. Members of the Mountain East Conference, the Hilltoppers improved to 30-4 while Gannon's season came to an end at 27-7.
 
It was remarkable season for the Golden Knights under first-year head coach Easton Bazzoli. An assistant last year on a Gannon team that reached the Elite Eight and finished with a 32-3 record, Bazzoli was forced to rebuild the squad with just three players back.
 
He lost his first two games to nationally-ranked teams but then the Golden Knights ran off 15 straight wins. The streak came to an end with a stretch of four losses in five games. Bazzoli righted the ship with hard-nosed defense and the usual fast-paced offense as the Golden Knights won 11 games in a row, in the process winning their second straight PSAC championship.  
 
Tuesday's championship game was played in front of a boisterous crowd and was a rematch of last year's regional semifinal game at Gannon won by the Golden Knights 103-88. Gannon trailed 51-47 at the half and the Golden Knights still remained in striking distance at 79-72 with eight minutes remaining.
 
Two minutes later the Hilltoppers went on a 16-4 run to blow the game open taking a 101-81 lead with 92 seconds remaining. The lone points during that stretch was four-point play by Ernest Shelton (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge). Gannon closed the game on a 9-0 run but ran out of time.
 
Tasman Goodrick (Sydney, Australia/St. Joseph's College) and Ernest Shelton (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) were named to the All-Tournament Team. Goodrick had his 20th double-double with 16 points and pulling down 14 rebounds. After scoring 32 points in Sunday's semifinal win over Virginia State Shelton led Gannon with 21 points, adding nine rebounds.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first half featured two ties and two lead changes. Gannon jumped out to its largest lead of the game at 21-15 just over five minutes into the game. West Liberty followed with a 25-8 run to lead 40-29 with just over seven minutes left. The Golden Knights closed to 51-47 at the half as both teams shot over 50 percent from the floor. West Liberty finished at 56.8 percent (21-of-37) while Gannon was at 51.5 percent (17-of-33).

Gannon was never able to regain the lead in the second half but still remained within striking distance. At one point they tied the game at 55-55 on a layup by Victor Desmond (Onalaska, Wisc./Onalaska).
 
The tie lasted less than 30 seconds as Kameron Tinsley's rebound basket gave the Hilltoppers a 57-55 lead. West Liberty began to slowly stretch the lead with it growing to seven points at 74-67 midway through the half.
 
Four minutes later West Liberty led 85-77 after Ernest Shelton (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) drained a 3-pointers. That's when the Hilltoppers finally gained control. They ran off the next nine points before Shelton interrupted the run with a four-point play making it 94-81 with 2:37 left. West Liberty followed with seven more points to take the largest lead of the game at 101-81. By that time just 1:32 remained.
 
With the season winding down Tasman Goodrick (Sydney, Australia/St. Joseph's College) scored on a layup, Shelton and Pace Prosser (Berlin, Pa./Berlin Brothersvalley) added a basket and Desmond scored the final; basket of the season on a 3-pointer with just seconds remaining.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
The numbers that stood out for West Liberty were a 52-34 advantage in points in the paint and a 31-14 edge in points off turnovers, an area where Gannon normally dominates. The Hilltoppers' bench also outscored the Golden Knights 41-10.
 
Gannon shot 45.3 percent from the floor (34-of-75) while West Liberty was at 52.0 percent (39-of-75). Both teams made 12 3-pointers, Gannon on 33 attempts and West Liberty on 29. After making 6-of-11 free throws in the first half Gannon ended the night at 10-of-18. West Liberty made its lone free throw attempt in the first half but was 10-of-16 at the line in the second half.
 
All five Gannon starters scored in double figures led by Ernest Shelton (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) with 21 points. The 6-foot-5 sophomore failed to make a basket in the first half and had just three points but scored 18 points in the second half. He ended the game making 6-of-11 field goals, making 3-of-6 3-pointers and going 6-of-7 free throws. He added nine rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
 
Shelton finished his sophomore season with 591 points, good for ninth in a season. He made 92-of-263 3-pointers, tied for sixth in a season for 3-pointers made and fifth in a season for 3-pointers attempted.  
 
Tasman Goodrick (Sydney, Australia/St. Joseph's College) contributed his 20th double-double of the season with 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, eight on the offensive end. He added a pair of blocked shots. The 6-foot-9 sophomore from Australia finished with 354 rebounds, the fourth-highest season total. Shelton and Goodrick were named to the All-Tournament Team.
 
Pace Prosser (Berlin, Pa./Berlin Brothersvalley) capped a tremendous freshman campaign with 15 points. A 6-foot-2 guard, he added six rebounds and four assists.
 
Justin DeBuck (Broward County, Fla./Pembroke Pines Charter), a grad transfer from Union (Tenn.), concluded his career with 14 points, making a pair of 3-pointers. He had five rebounds, six assists and two steals. DeBuck went over 1,000 points in his career earlier in the season and finished his career with 1,279 points.
 
Victor Desmond (Onalaska, Wisc./Onalaska) was the fifth Golden Knight in double figures ending the night with 14 points. That included three 3-pointers along with four steals.
 
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