Men's Basketball Looks for WPCC Championship

Westmoreland, riding a 6 game win streak, and Penn Highlands split their two regular season games this season.  Penn Highlands won the first match up by one point, and Westmoreland one the second go round by one point.  So why would the WPCC Championship game would be any different between the two.

Foul trouble early put the Wolfpack at a disadvantage right away.  Tahyir Vines had 3 fouls in the first four minutes, and was forced to the bench.  This allowed Penn Highlands to open up a 10 point half time lead, which almost halfway through the second half, had ballooned to 21 points!  The Wolfpack then came storming back into the game, cutting the 21 point deficit to just 2 points, 82 to 80, with just 9.5 seconds to go!  Westmoreland was unable to foul on the inbound pass and allowed Penn Highlands to run off 6 seconds off the clock before hitting 2 foul shots to make the lead and final score 84 to 80.

Joel Lonigro scored 22 points to help spur the comeback for the Wolfpack.  Vines, who spent a majority of the first hald on the bench in foul trouble finished with 20 points.  Brandon Baird had 12 points and 14 rebounds on his way to his 7th double-double of the season.  Jakir Hampton and Noah Raynor-Savage added 13 and 8 points each.  Shawn Wilson came off the bench with 5 points as well.

Hampton, Baird, and Lonigro were all named as All Conference team members, while Coach William "TJ" Johnson was named WPCC Conference Coach of the year.

The Wolfpack had won 6 in a row and 7 of their last 8 games coming into tournament play.  Now they turn their focus to the NJCAA Region 20 Championship Tournament, held at Anna Arundel Community College.  The Wolfpack will face the Riverhawks from Anne Arundel at 5pm on saturday, as they look to bring home their first ever Region 20 Men's Basketball Championship.