City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Here are the area’s current top five Division II teams, consisting of squads from the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC)’s South Division and the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC)’s East Division.

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Others to Watch: Bloomsburg (10-7, 8-5 PSAC), USciences (11-6, 8-2 CACC)

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5t. Shippensburg Raiders (OW)
Record: 12-5 (9-4 PSAC)
Last Two Weeks: @ Lock Haven (W, 96-84), vs. Cheyney (W, 79-57)
Star Watch: Abe Massaley (Jr./G)--15.2 ppg, 3.9 apg

Update: We couldn’t leave out Shippensburg after a seven-game winning streak that carried them through the holidays and into the new year, but they’re not quite ready to pass Kutztown and drop them out of the rankings entirely. So we expanded to six teams this week to mention the Raiders, who are just one win shy of their total from a year ago--which was already a nice improvement from a three-win season in 2013-14. Massaley, an Imhotep grad, is Ship’s top scorer, but lately they’ve been getting strong play from sophomore guard Justin McCarthur, who had 12 points in the win over Lock Haven and 14 against Cheyney. The Raiders’ place in this ranking will certainly been tested in the next fortnight; playing at West Chester and then hosting ESU is a three-day stretch that no team in the PSAC would happily take on.

Next Two Weeks: @ Bloomsburg (Jan. 27, 7:30 PM), @ West Chester (Jan. 30, 3 PM), vs. East Stroudsburg (Feb. 1, 8 PM), vs. Mansfield (Feb. 3, 8 PM), @ Kutztown (Feb. 6, 3 PM)

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5t. Kutztown Golden Bears (2)
Record: 13-4 (10-3 PSAC)
Last Two Weeks: @ Philly U (L, 89-82), @ East Stroudsburg (L, 86-75), vs. Mansfield (W, 103-75), @ Cheyney (ppd.)
Star Watch: Josh Johnson (Jr./F)--13.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg

Update: Tough two weeks for the Golden Bears, who had to play two other top-five teams in the Rams and Warriors before things let up a bit with an easier home win over the Mounties. Like Shippensburg, their next two weeks will determine quite a bit about how the rest of their season will chart. Though Johnson, a 6-8 forward from Norristown, has played well of late with double-digit scoring in four of his last five, the surprise performance of the last two weeks comes from Howard Sellars, who only averages 4.6 ppg but canned 25 points on 7-of-7 from 3-point range in the win over Mansfield. How unlikely was it? Sellars had only made one 3-pointer in his previous 15 attempts, a stretch that went back to Dec. 4 when he went 1-for-3 from beyond the arc in an overtime win at Pitt-Johnstown.

Next Two Weeks: @ West Chester (Jan. 27, 7:30 PM), vs. Millersville (Jan. 30, 3 PM), vs. Lock Haven (Feb. 3, 7:30 PM), vs. Shippensburg (Feb. 6, 3 PM)

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4. Philadelphia University Rams (5)
Record: 16-4 (9-2 CACC)
Last Two Weeks: @ Caldwell (W, 66-61), vs. Kutztown (W, 89-82), @ Goldey-Beacom (W, 73-63), @ Post (W, 76-69)
Star Watch: Kaison Randolph (Soph./G)--17.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg

Update: After losing three of five to end 2015, the Rams have rung in the New Year with six straight wins, all but the one over the Golden Bears coming against CACC opponents. Randolph, a 6-3 guard from Penningtown (N.J.), has had a very strong role in that surge, averaging 22.2 ppg during those six wins, including a career-best 30 points in the win over Post. A strong attacking guard coming out of high school, Randolph has turned himself into a capable shooter under the “Shot Doctor,” Herb Magee, making 46.8 percent (20-of-47) from beyond the arc during the recent win streak and 38.2 percent on the season. Also worth mentioning this week is point guard Mike Louden, who goes from not playing in some games (Goldey-Beacom) to seeing 40 minutes in others (Caldwell, Post) depending on need, and the team doesn’t miss a beat.

Next Two Weeks: vs. Wilmington (Jan. 26, 8 PM), vs. Bloomfield (Jan. 30, 4 PM), @ Dominican (Jan. 6, 4 PM)

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3. West Chester Rams (4)
Record: 16-2 (12-2 PSAC)
Last Two Weeks: @ Cheyney (W, 84-82), @ Mansfield (W, 90-68), vs. Millersville (W, 101-59), @ Lock Haven (W, 78-74)
Star Watch: Avery Brown (Sr./G)--10.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg

Update: Solid two weeks for West Chester, though none of those wins are the eye-opening type; Millersville, Mansfield and Cheyney have a combined seven wins this season, while Lock Haven has lost four in and row and six of its last seven. Things step up about five notches this week with games against the two other PSAC contenders out of the East division, though they both have to visit Hollinger Fieldhouse to make up ground. This is the first meeting this season between WCU and Kutztown; the Rams beat the Raiders on the road in Dec., an 83-68 decision that saw five WCU players in double figures. One of those five was Brown, a 6-3 guard from Jersey who’s scored in double figures in three straight, including a season-best 22 points against Mansfield.

Next Two Weeks: vs. Kutztown (Jan. 27, 7:30 PM), vs. Shippensburg (Jan. 30, 3 PM), @ Bloomsburg (Feb. 3, 7:30 PM)

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2. Holy Family Tigers (1)
Record: 16-4 (10-1 CACC)
Last Two Weeks: @ Concordia (L, 75-74), vs. Wilmington (W, 83-55), vs. USciences (W, 62-56), vs. Felician (W, 75-48)
Star Watch: Derrick Stewart (Sr./F)--8.9 ppg, 10.9 rpg

Update: Holy Family falls out of the top spot after its second loss in the last eight games, though the Tigers bounced back nicely with three more CACC wins to stay atop the South Division for the time being. It’s too easy to talk about HFU’s electric scorer Reggie Charles (17.2) or Marvin Crawford (14.3 ppg), but Stewart serves a very important role as the team’s grit guy. The 6-7 forward, a Rider transfer and Neumann-Goretti alum, paces the team in rebounding and blocks (41) and is a capable scorer--he’s shooting 42.2 percent from the floor and 33.8 percent from 3-point range. A 12-point, 11-rebound outing against Concordia was his seventh double-double of the season.

Next Two Weeks: vs. Caldwell (Jan. 30, 3 PM), @ Goldey-Beacom (Feb. 3, 8 PM), vs. Post (Feb. 6, 3 PM)

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1. East Stroudsburg Warriors (3)
Record: 14-3 (10-3 PSAC)
Last Two Weeks: vs. Mansfield (W, 102-62), vs. Kutztown (W, 86-75), @ Lock Haven (W, 102-84), @ Shippensburg (ppd.)
Star Watch: Jamal Nwaniemeka (Sr./G)--13.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg

Update: It’s eight straight wins in a row now for the Warriors, who took the momentum from a 87-60 win over West Chester earlier in the month and rode that to three more over the last two weeks. What makes these Warriors so dangerous is how many different players contribute; while we mention Nwaniemeka, who had 22 points against Mansfield, we could just as easily mention Rasheed Moore (13.7 ppg, 7.1), who had 19 points and 12 rebounds against Lock Haven, or any one of the six ESU players--Moore and Nwaniemeka included--who hit double figures against Kutztown. The game against Ship--a reschedule of a contest that was originally supposed to take place on Saturday--just two days after Bloomsburg could be a trap game.

Next Two Weeks: vs. Millersville (Jan. 27, 7:30 PM), vs. Bloomsburg (Jan. 30, 3 PM), @ Shippensburg (Feb. 1, 8 PM), @ Cheyney (Feb. 6, 3 PM)