By Matt Kellam

The Shippensburg Greyhounds, (1-1, 0-0 MPC) overcame a sluggish start to spurt past the New Oxford Colonials, 69-45 to claim third place in the Gettysburg tip-off tournament.

The Greyhounds led 8-7 after the first quarter but added 61 points over the final three quarters to seal the victory.

Greyhound coach Ray Staver was happy with several areas of improvement over Friday nights loss to Lancaster Menonnite. “There were two things we wanted to do. We wanted to improve our man-to-man, and we wanted to be a little more deliberate in our half-court offense.”

Early in the second quarter with the Greyhounds leading 12-9, Shippensburg went on a 9-0 run led by a steal by Jayden Statum who fed Anthony Smith for the jam, two offensive put backs by Carter Funk and a three-point play by Jeremy Thomas.

The Greyhounds led by 11 at halftime, 32-21.

When asked if he was pleased with the bench performance tonight coach Staver said, Absolutely! “Carter Funk came off the bench and scored two quick buckets. The game was close at that time. Our younger guards all had some good penetration moves and scored in the second half.”

The Colonials were able to cut the lead to nine at 41-32, but Shippensburg answered with an 8-0 run fueled by two buckets by Graison Michajluk, who finished with 10 points, and baskets from Funk and Statum.  From there, the outcome was never in doubt.

Shippensburg placed four players in double digits led by Thomas and Smith with 12 each followed by Statum with 11, in addition to Michajluk’s 10.

Idriz Ahmetovic, Brittyn Eakins, and Aden Strasbaugh led the Colonials with 10 points each.

Notes: Shippensburg opens play in the Mid-Penn Colonial Tuesday night when they travel to Big Spring. The Shippensburg JV team took the title with a 46-44 win over Gettysburg in the championship game.

Shippensburg 69, New Oxford 45
NEW OXFORD
Jett Moore 0 3-5 3, Idriz Ahmetovic 3 3-8 10, Nick Calvo-Perez 1 2-2 4, Brittyn Eakins 3 3-4 10, Aden Strasbaugh 4 0-0 10, Brennan Holmes 3 0-0 6, Holden Krabbs 0 2-4 2. Totals: 14 13-23 45.
SHIPPENSBURG
Jayden Statum 5 1-2 11, Traevon Kater 2 0-0 5, Keegan Kissinger 1 0-0 2, Spencer Edey 1 0-1 2, Erby Weller 3 0-0 7, Carter Funk 4 0-0 8, Jeremy Thomas 4 4-9 12, Graison Michajluk 4 2-2 10, Anthony Smith 6 0-0 12. Totals: 30 7-14 69.
New Oxford       7       14       13       11 —45
Shippensburg   8        24       23       14 —69
Three point shots: New Oxford 4 (Strasbaugh 2, Ahmetovic and Eakins 1) Shippensburg 2 (Kater, Weller)