Petersburg, VA - The Johnson & Wales Charlotte men's basketball team continued their postseason roll on Wednesday, defeating #3 Penn State York 81-69 to advance to the USCAA National Championship title game.

How It Happened:

• The teams traded baskets for the first seven and a half minutes of the game.
• an Anthoney Ray conventional three point play sparked a 16-0 run that put the Wildcats up 29-13 with 5:36 left in the half.
• York was only able to offer a tepid response in the last quarter of the period, and trailed by 12 at the break, 35-23.
• The Wildcats got back-to-back threes from Collin Irby and Jaylen Dibble to open the second half, extending their lead to 15.
• JWU maintained a double-digit advantage until the 7:35 mark, when the Lions started their late game push.
• Over the next four and a half minutes, JWU saw their lead shrink to just three at 64-61.
• The Wildcats then scored 11 in a row, 7 of those points coming from Ray, in the next two minutes to salt the game away.

Key Stats:

• The Wildcats shot 95% from the free throw line (19-20), a new school record for best single-game free throw percentage.
• JWU outrebounded York 48-32.
• Anthoney Ray led all scorers with 35 points. He added 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.
• Fred Patterson posted a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
• Jaylen Dibble scored 7 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.
• JWU improves to 17-11 overall while Penn State Wilkes-Barre drops to 26-6 overall.

Up Next:

The Wildcats advance to Thursday evening's national championship game where they will face #5 seed Southern Maine Community College at 6pm.