Westmoreland campus clippings: Latrobe grads guiding Shippensburg men's basketball | TribLIVE.com
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Westmoreland campus clippings: Latrobe grads guiding Shippensburg men's basketball

Bill Beckner
| Monday, January 7, 2019 7:25 p.m.

Latrobe was well-represented Saturday as the Shippensburg men’s basketball team took down visiting East Stroudsburg, 76-70.

Raiders coach Chris Fite notched his 100th career victory, and sophomore point guard Jake Biss scored a career-high 30 points for No. 25 Shippensburg (12-3, 6-1 PSAC).

Fite and Biss are Latrobe graduates.

Since Fite began coaching the Raiders six years ago, he has a record of 100-61. The Raiders have four Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament appearances and two NCAA Tournament trips under Fite. They reached the NCAA Atlantic Region final last season.

Fite has 84 wins since the 2015-16 season.

Fite, who played professionally in England, is the only coach in school history to post multiple 20-win seasons.

Against East Stoudsburg, Biss shot 13 of 23 from the field and added a game-high five assists. He played a game-high 38 minutes and scored 19 after halftime.

Biss is averaging 13.6 points and 2.9 rebounds and leads the Raiders with 74 assists. He has started all 15 games.

His solid play — three straight games in double figures — earned him PSAC East Player of the Week recognition.

Men’s basketball

LIU Brooklyn: Junior guard Julian Batts (Jeannette) scored a game-high 20 points to guide the Blackbirds (7-7, 1-1) past Bryant, 79-70, on Saturday in a Northeast Conference matchup.

Batts is averaging 8.3 points and 4.4 rebounds and leads the team with 30 steals.

Saint Vincent: Behind a career-best 20 points from sophomore guard Cletus Helton, and 18 from senior guard Mike Simmons (Kiski Area), the Bearcats posted their fourth straight win, 89-65 over Bethany on Saturday.

Helton also had four steals.

Simmons made 5 of 6 from 3-point range, and sophomore Shemar Bennett added 13 points and nine rebounds for SVC (12-2, 5-0 PAC), which improved to 8-0 at home.

Simmons had a career-high 19 points in an 84-82 win Thursday over Westminster. His quality play of late earned him PAC Player of the Week recognition.

Washington & Jefferson: Sophomore guard Zach Queen (Hempfield) had 11 points but the Presidents (6-9, 4-2 PAC) lost to Waynesburg, 83-76.

Seton Hill: The Griffins snapped a six-game losing streak in the PSAC with a 77-73 victory over Edinboro. Senior Trevor Blondin had 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and junior Nathan Davis added 20 points and seven rebounds for the Griffins (3-9, 1-5).

Senior Milenko Predic had 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Women’s basketball

Saint Vincent: The Bearcats (11-2, 5-0 PAC) extended their winning streak to nine with a 60-50 win Saturday over Bethany.

Sophomore forward Madison Kollar (Latrobe) and junior guard Kayla Slovenec scored 12 points each, and sophomore guard Jenna Lafko added 11 points and six rebounds in the win.

Kollar has been strong since returning to the lineup from injury. She leads the team in scoring (14.8 ppg) while averaging 4.3 rebounds and shooting 50 percent from the field in 23.5 minutes a game.

Westminster: Freshman guard Magen Polczynski (Norwin) had 12 points, seven assists and five rebounds as the Titans (5-9, 3-3 PAC) took down Geneva, 83-52, on Saturday. Westminster was in a giving mood as it dished out a team-record 27 assists. Sophomore Haley Moore (Greensburg Central Catholic), a two-sport athlete who also plays volleyball, chipped in five points and an assist.

Wrestling

Ohio State: Junior Luke Pletcher (Latrobe) is ranked No. 7 in the country by Intermat at 133 pounds. He has a 14-1 record with three major decisions and three wins by pin.

Pitt: Redshirt freshman Micky Phillippi (Derry) improved to 10-1 for the season with a 10-4 decision at 133 pounds as No. 20-ranked Pitt (6-0) held off Oklahoma, 20-17, on Sunday. Phillippi is ranked No. 6 in the weight class.

Bill Beckner is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Bill at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.


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