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Brake’s late 3-pointers seal Lock Haven men’s victory at home

LOCK HAVEN — They weren’t exactly two shots heard around the world, but they were a pair of treys that got the fans inside the Thomas Fieldhouse excited.

With Lock Haven trailing West Chester by three with less than two minutes left, Tarojae Brake took matters in his own hands as the true freshman buried back-to-back treys to give the Bald Eagles the upper hand by three.

Although things got a little dicey down the stretch for LHU, the Bald Eagles held on for an 86-85 win over the Golden Rams.

“Once I get one to go, I just get this feeling to keep shooting, keep shooting” said Brake. “I got into a rhythm and I guess I am the one that got hot in this game. I didn’t really think about the second one. I was confident and I just went out there and hit it.”

As for the playoff situation for the Bald Eagles, coach Mike Nestor knew that in reality the playoffs for his squad began a couple of weeks ago.

“That was just a big time win for us,” said Nestor. “They are a good team and they came in here as hot as anybody with the two wins against Ship and Stroudsburg. I knew they would have a chip on their shoulder because we got them at their place. We came out strong and in the end, Tarojae Brake took over. He made two monster plays and shots and that is great to watch happen. For a freshman, that is just a case of him getting better and better.”

The Bald Eagles jumped out to a fast start by scoring the first 10 points of the game. Keeping the offense in gear, Lock Haven built its lead up to 27-12 midway through the first quarter.

The Golden Rams answered Lock Haven to go up 35-31 with five minutes left before halftime. The Bald Eagles tied the game at 35-all during the next 90 seconds before the two teams were deadlocked at 4 at halftime.

“I thought we missed some wide open layups,” said Nestor as to how WC got back into the game. “We missed six early and then they go down and get a good opportunity. If you make some of them, it makes it a little more difficult to get a look. That hurt us, but in the end, we did well getting to the foul line 3(31-for-39) and the offensive rebounds (15) was huge for us. We haven’t done that all season and maybe not since I got here. The guys had a ton of energy and they just wanted to beat them.”

The Bald Eagles went back up by five points (58-53) six minutes into the second half and they still maintained a three-point advantage with ten minutes left.

The Golden Rams tied the game at 70-all with six minutes left on the front end of a 12-2 run that gave them a 10-point lead (82-72) with four minutes left. Still trailing by an 83-80 count, that is when Brake stepped up and took over.

Brake led the Bald Eagles with a monster game of 31 points, two more than teammate Amir Hinton, who finished with 29.

Prior to the game, the Bald Eagles honored two of their seniors who have made major contributions to the program this season in Central Mountain grad Cole Renninger and Craig Slade. Renninger had a big game for the Eagles with six points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

“We can’t say enough about those two guys,” said Nestor. “We go through senior night every year and it is tough to see those two guys go because I have known them for quite a while. Craig went to my high school and I have known Cole ever since I got this job. Just to see their growth and maturity as people is very satisfying because they are just great people. They both do the right thing, they are good with academics and they do a lot for the community. We are going to miss them when they are gone.”

West Chester (12-13, 10-10PSAC)

Zach Bare 6-19 2-2 18; Jackson Hyland 6-11 5-6 17; Malik Jackson 3-14 6-8 13; Thomas White 4-9 1-1 9; Matt Penecale 2-3 2-2 8; Miko Jenkins 3-6 0-0 6; Dashon Giddings 2-3 0-0 4; Tyrell Long 1-4 2-2 4; Ryan Skovranko 1-2 0-0 2; Tim Toro 1-1 0-0 2; Mike Jolaoso 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-73 18-21 85.

Lock Haven(12-12, 8-12 PSAC)

Tarojae Brake 7-10 14-17 31; Amir Hinton 8-13 12-13 29; Ra’eese Hunt 4-12 0-1 9; Cole Renninger 2-8 0-0 6; Craig Slade 2-7 2-3 6; Jihad Barnes 1-7 3-5 5; Alsmith Saintilius 0-0 0-0 0; Khaleeq Campbell 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 24-63 31-39 86.

Halftime: Tied at 44. 3-point goals: WCU 7-26 (Bare 4-11; Penecale 2-2; Jackson 1-9; Long 0-1; Hyland 0-3), LHU 7-22 (Brake 3-4; Renninger 2-4; Hunt 1-4; Hinton 1-3; Campbell 0-5; Barnes 0-2). Fouled out: WCU-none, LHU-none. Rebounds: WCU 39 (Jenkins 8), LHU 47 (Renninger 10). Assists: WCU 10 (Bare 3; Hyland 3), LHU 12 (Renninger 7). Total fouls: WCU 27, LHU 17. Technical fouls: WCU-none, LHU-none. A: 378.

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