Lions Suffer Heartbreaker In Pittsburgh

By: Alexis Shelton

Pittsburgh, PA- The Penn State Beaver Mens Basketball Team (1-1, 0-0 PSUAC) hit the road for their second straight road game of the season in an out of conference match-up against NCAA Div. III LaRoche College. Beaver lost 71-72.

The game started out very fast paced and aggressive, with Beaver trailing 5-2 before going on a run of their own. Sophomore Chris Weathers (New Brighton/New Brighton, PA) and senior Darius Prince(West Mifflin/Pittsburgh, PA) showed off the Lions quick offense by rushing down the court giving them a 15 point lead at once. Beavers defense held the Redhawks to only making 36.7% of their FGs for the half and Beaver shot 51.4% taking the lead 40-30 at the half.

In the second half, LaRoche came out very strong on defense causing Beaver TO's on almost every possession. The Redhawks went on a 23-2 run to open up the half, with the Lions being down 53-42. After a timeout by Coach Marcess Williams, Beaver came went on a 23-8 run taking their first lead of the half 65-63 with 4:38 left in the game. Tyler Care (Lincoln Park/Hopewell, PA) and Nick Miller (Beaver Falls/Beaver Falls, PA) shot for a combined 50% from the three point line in the half contributing to Beavers lead. The Lions led the game by 11 before LaRoche stormed back into the game with just under two minutes left. With just under one minute left, the Lions lead was tightened to 71-69 before the Redhawks Ryan Frantzmade a heart breaking three point shot with 17 seconds left. Beaver had time to make it down court, but just could not find a shot to win the game unforturnately losing 72-71.

For the evening, Beaver shot 50.8%, 30% from three point range, and 50% from the free throw line. The Lions out rebounded the Redhawks 29-27 as well. Weathers led the team with 13 points, followed by Prince and Miller with 11 points each, and Freshman Patrick Horton (Farrell/Farell, PA) with 10 points of his own. Senior Tony Houghton (Perry Traditional Academy/Pittsburgh, PA) led the team in defensive rebounds with 4, Weathers with 3 offensive rebounds. Prince had 5 assists, and Horton had 5 steals.

Beaver will play their first home game of the season Friday, November 18, 2011 at 7:30pm against Waynesburg University (Waynesburg, PA).