WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Shippensburg University men's basketball team posted an 87-79 victory at West Chester on Wednesday night in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Men's Basketball Quarterfinal matchup at Hollinger Field House, winning in the building for the first time in eight years.
 
Shippensburg (23-6) will face Gannon at 1 p.m. Saturday in a PSAC semifinal held at East Stroudsburg University. The Warriors will host Edinboro in the other conference semifinal.
 
SU, the nation's top free-throw shooting team entering Wednesday's game, shot 29-of-34 (85.3 percent) from the line. West Chester (21-6) also proved sharp at the free-throw line, making 25-of-27 (92.6 percent) in the contest.
 
The Raider defense was key – as it limited West Chester to 36 percent shooting. WCU shot a season-low 4-of-23 (17 percent) from three-point range. The Raiders shot 45 percent from the field, including eight three-pointers, after shooting just 29 percent at West Chester just one week ago.
 
Senior Dustin Sleva led four Raiders in double figures with 24 points. Sleva was 6-of-7 from the field and 12-of-14 from the free-throw line. He is now 11 points shy of reaching 2,000 in his career.
 
Junior Antonio Kellem scored a season-high 21 points, including four three-pointers, to go along with five rebounds and two assists. Senior Clay Conner added 17 points, including three three-pointers, while senior Justin McCarthur scored 12 points. Both Conner and McCarthur were 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
 
With 6:11 left to go in the first half, Kellem hit a three-pointer that kick-started a 14-0 run for the Raiders – transforming a 23-19 deficit into a 33-23 lead with three minutes remaining before the intermission. Shippensburg took a 37-29 lead into halftime.
 
The game reached an emotional fever pitch early in the second half, when sophomore John Castello was sent careening to the floor on an attempted dunk in transition. With Castello lying injured on the ground, West Chester canned a corner three-pointer to make it a four-point game, 40-36. After a WCU free throw, the Raiders went on an 8-1 run to bump its lead back to 10 points, 48-38, with 15:18 remaining. (Castello returned later in the second half.)
 
Shippensburg would lead by as many as 14 points with 12:10 left, but West Chester frequently nipped and clawed into the deficit down the stretch. WCU cut it to four points, 73-69, with 2:39 remaining, but Kellem answered with a three-pointer and McCarthur later added an "and-one" on a layup to stretch the Raider advantage back to nine points. SU led by 10 points on three different occasions in the final 70 seconds.
 
Entering Wednesday, Shippensburg had SHIP has lost nine straight games at Hollinger Field House --  eight straight to West Chester as well as the 2016 PSAC Semifinals against Mercyhurst. SU's last win at Hollinger Field House had been a 63-61 victory over the Golden Rams on Feb. 3, 2010.
 
Shippensburg will enter Saturday's game nine three-pointers shy of tying its single-season school record (317) set last year. Currently, SU's free-throw percentage (80.6) would be the PSAC single-season record and is 10th all-time in D2 history.
 
Regional Rankings: Earlier Wednesday, the latest edition of the Atlantic Regional rankings were released. SU dropped from No. 3 to No. 7 in the region, so the Raider victory at West Chester serves as a major boon as far as preserving its chances for an NCAA Tournament berth. The Top 8 teams will make the regional tournament, but all three conference champions from the region (PSAC, MEC, CIAA) earn automatic berths into the tournament. Therefore, a team (or teams) not currently in the Top 10 in the regional rankings has the possibility of making the tournament – eliminating one of the teams in the lower-ranked positions.
 
Atlantic Region Rankings:
1. Virginia State
2. West Liberty
3. West Chester
4. East Stroudsburg
5. Wheeling Jesuit
6. IUP
7. Shippensburg
8. Kutztown
9. Fairmont State
10. Gannon