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EDINBORO, Pa.-On a day where nothing came easy, Edinboro handed head coach Greg Walcavich his 500th career victory with a 70-62 come-from-behind win over visiting Shippensburg Saturday, February 9. The victory boosted the No. 25-ranked Fighting Scots to 16-5 overall and 6-1 in the PSAC West, while the Red Raiders suffered their eighth straight loss to fall to 6-16 and 0-7, respectively.
Walcavich becomes the ninth active coach in Division II with 500 wins, and the second to reach the plateau in less than two weeks. Rollins head coach Tom Klusman won his 500th game on January 30. Walcavich is in his 26th season as a head coach, and his 19th season at Edinboro. He also had head coaching stints at Birmingham Southern (114 wins) and West Virginia Wesleyan (40). He has led Edinboro to 346 victories.
Shippensburg appeared intent on making Walcavich remain at 499 wins, as the Red Raiders grabbed a 34-24 halftime lead, then extended the margin to 15 points at 41-26 with 17:01 to play when Derrick Graff made a pair of free throws.
The Fighting Scots would go on a 15-4 run to cut the lead to 45-41 just four minutes later, but Shippensburg refused to fold. Edinboro finally grabbed the lead for good with just 3:24 remaining when Ryan McLemore hit a short jumper for a 64-62 advantage, starting a run of eight straight points to end the game. Edinboro held Shippensburg scoreless over the final three-and-a-half minutes.
Gerald Warrick’s ten-foot jumper made it 66-62 with two minutes left, and Gil Cummings added a three-pointer moments later to give Edinboro some breathing room at 69-62. Devon Knight added one of two free throws with 54 seconds remaining for the final score.
Edinboro outscored the Red Raiders 46-28 over the final twenty minutes and held them to 33.3 percent shooting from the floor.
Joseph Jones led four players in double figures with 21 points, his ninth game of 20-or-more points. Cummings added 11 points, with Knight checking in with 10 points and six assists. McLemore fell just shy of a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and eight blocked shots. The 6’9” senior now has 108 blocks on the season, moving within 17 blocks of the school record of 125 blocks. In addition, he moved into ninth place in career rebounds with 734.
Shippensburg was led by Ryan Kraft, who had a game-high 22 points. Alex Jones finished with 14 points and Graff had 10 points and 12 boards.
Edinboro ended the game shooting 39.7 percent and held Shippensburg to 38.1 percent. That marks the 20th time in 21 games an opponent has shot under 44 percent from the floor. The Fighting Scots held a 44-38 advantage on the glass.
(Source Edinboro) | 
