Cal misses out on tourney bid after loss to Shepherd
LH grad DeShields scores 14 in defeat
Nate Kurtz/PennWest California
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – Marcus Banks had 24 points and Shepherd scored 55 points in the second half to rally for an 84-74 victory over California in the PSAC men’s basketball tournament semifinals Saturday afternoon.
Shepherd (21-10) advanced to Sunday’s conference championship game where it fell to Gannon, 74-58, one day after the Golden Knights had rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat Millersville in the other semifinal.
Cal’s record drops to 18-12. The Vulcans awaited a possible at-large selection to the NCAA Division II Tournament on Sunday night.
“We’ll keep our fingers crossed,” California head coach Danny Sancomb said, “and hope that we get a chance to play again. Everybody on this team is not ready for the season to come to an end. We hope our strength of schedule and body of work is strong enough to get us in.”
Unfortunately when the brackets were unveiled, California was not one of the 64 teams listed and Shepherd was left out of the field as well. Gannon received the automatic bid that comes with winning the PSAC tournament.
The Vulcans led 38-29 at halftime, but Shepherd shot 62 percent from the field in its big second half.
“In the first half, we executed well defensively,” Sancomb said. “We did a good job of keeping the ball out of the paint and forced them to take a lot of contested three-pointers. In the second half, they were able to get it inside easier and be more effective.”
Junior point guard Donald Whitehead led Cal with 23 points, including 15 in the first half. Cam Polak had a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman Keondre DeShields, a Laurel Highlands graduate, added 14 points, hitting six of 12 shots with a 3-pointer, and also had four rebounds and a blocked shot. Jordyn Buchanan had nine points and 10 rebounds.
Shepherd opened the second half with a 19-4 run, making eight of 10 shots to forge a 48-42 lead. The Vulcans went a span of 5:27 without a field goal.
Shepherd later mounted a 15-4 run to make it 67-53 with 8:07 left and Cal would get no closer than eight the rest of the way.