Beaver Holds on For Thrilling Win, Downs Grove City 64-62

Staff Writer

Monaca, PA-  It really was a tale of two halves Saturday night at Beaver Field House in Monaca, PA.  Grove City controlled most of the first half, building a 15 point lead midway through the first.  Beaver chipped back, bringing the deficit to 8, before Grove City added 2 more going into the half (29-19).

Beaver came alive after halftime, starting the half on a 10-2 run.  Beaver tied the game for the first time at the 14:46 mark (2nd Half) on a Senior Darius Prince (West Mifflin/Pittsburgh, PA) steal which led to a and one on the other end by Sophomore Chris Weathers (New Brighton/New Brighton, PA) which tied the score at 34-34.  The Lions then took the lead for the first time at 12:35 on a Weathers inside move and bucket.  Beaver built a 7 point lead by the 6:20 mark, but the game went back and forth.  The Wolverines chipped at the lead, and had it down to one with 1:37 left to go in the game.  After a crucial Beaver Turnover, Junior Julian Taylor (Rochester/Rochester, PA) came up with the defensive play of the game, blocking a Wolverine shot that led to a Sophomore Quinten Burton (Ambridge/Ambridge, PA) 3 pointer that pushed the lead to 4 with one minute remaining.  Grove City answered with a 3 pointer of their own, pulling with in one with 41 seconds remaining.  Senior Tony Houghton (Perry/Pittsburgh, PA) hit a free throw with 22 seconds left to push the lead to two.  Grove City would miss fire on a three at the buzzer, and Beaver came away with the 64-62 win.

In the victory, Prince led the way scoring 17 points.  Houghton added 13 and Weathers finished with 11.  Beaver out rebounded their opponent 32-21, led by Weather's 6 boards.  Beaver doubled their shooting percentage in the second half, going 28.6% in the first half to 60% in the second (43.4 for the game). 

With the win, Beaver sits at 8-4 overall and remains at 4-1 in the PSUAC.  Beaver returns to PSUAC action on Friday, January 13th, when they host Penn State Hazelton.  Tip off is set for 8 p.m. (Or 20 minutes after the women's game).