Beaver scores second-straight win against Schuylkill, 71-53

By: Matylda Zamudio

MONACA, Pa. — The Penn State Beaver men's basketball locked down its second of back-to-back conference wins after defeating PSUAC rival Penn State Schuylkill 71-53 on Saturday afternoon.

Freshman forward/center Jeremy Redwine (Merced) led Beaver in scoring with 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists followed by freshman guard Keon Butler (Annapolis/Star Severn School), who earned 17 points, seven rebounds and two assists for the day.

PSUAC Player of the Week junior guard John Foster (Austin/Del Valle) had a notable performance also, tacking on 14 points, two rebounds and five assists.

PSUAC Player of the Week sophomore forward Andrew Brady (Alliance/Marlington) led Beaver in rebounds, racking up 10 boards for the day. 

1st half: Butler found Redwine to open up the scoring for Beaver, assisting him on an earlier 3-pointer. The game stayed close for the first four minutes, but a 12-3 run by Beaver rounded out by a Foster 3-pointer on an assist by Redwine put Beaver up 17-9. The defense looked rock solid as Beaver halted all of Schuylkill's scoring attempts for the next seven minutes while also scoring 12-straight points to build the lead to 17 points with five minutes to go (29-11). Schuylkill answered back with 6 points before the first wrapped-up, and Beaver took an 11-point lead before halftime (33-22).

2nd half: After the break, Brady grabbed a defensive rebound and assisted Foster on a 3-point play less than a minute in (36-22). Beaver built its largest lead of 23 points (53-30) at the 12:09 mark on a 3-point jumper by freshman guard Sonny Martinez (Austin). Schuylkill got within 15 points but couldn't slow down Beaver's scoring thanks to the Lions efficiently rebounding the ball and setting up scoring opportunities down the stretch. Beaver took down Schuylkill by a final score of 71-53.

Box Score Highlights: Beaver outshot Schuylkill 40 percent to 29.4 percent from 3-point range and 60 percent to 46.2 percent from the free-throw line. Beaver outrebounded Schuylkill 34-21, racked up six more assists (15-9) and scored 7 more points off turnovers (17-10).

After today's win against Schuylkill, Beaver improves to a 10-6 record in the PSUAC standings, also improving to a 14-8 overall record for the regular season. Beaver will host Penn State DuBois in its next game on Tuesday, Feb. 12. Game time is at 8:00 p.m.