BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – Junior guard Austin Cunningham (Vincent, Ohio/Ohio Valley) scored 25 points and senior guard Brantley Osborne (Sunbury, Pa./Shikellamy) added 23 to lead Shepherd University to a 99-90 win over West Virginia Wesleyan at West Virginia Wesleyan on Monday night.
Freshman Naim Muhammad (Waldorf, Md./North Point) added 16 points, while senior forward Kevin Jones (Washington, D.C./IUP) added 11 points and eight boards. Senior guard Marcus Pilgrim (Mitchellville, Md./Bishop McNamara) was also in double figures with 10 points.
Junior forward Morgan McDonald (Inwood, W.Va./Musselman) had a game-highs of 11 rebounds and three blocked shots to go along with nine points.
TJ Thompson had 21 points and Brett Ervin added 17 to lead the Bobcats. Garrett Grantham tossed in 16 points off the bench.
Shepherd shot 58 percent (34-59) from the floor with a 47 percent (8-17) effort from three-point range. The Rams hit on 23-of-32 free throws (72 percent).
West Virginia Wesleyan shot 54 percent (34-63) from the floor with a 16-of-30 effort (53 percent) from beyond the arc. The Bobcats hit on 6-of-10 free throws (60 percent).
Shepherd had a 38-22 advantage on the boards. The Rams forced nine turnovers, while committing eight.
The Bobcats used an 8-0 run late in the contest to cut the Shepherd lead to six points at 90-84 after a three-pointer by Grantham with 1:12 left. Shepherd hit 6-of-8 free throws and got a three-pointer from McDonald down the stretch to notch the win.
Shepherd improves to 5-1, 2-0 in MEC play, while West Virginia Wesleyan falls to 2-5, 0-2. The Rams return to action on Dec. 5 when they travel to West Virginia State for a 7:30 p.m. game.
