Penn State Beaver Earns First Win of the Season

By Christian Best 

Photo By Natalie Gamble

Monaca,PA--- After having a really rough start to the season, Penn State Beaver earned their first win of the season this evening against Penn State LeHigh Valley. 

Beaver and LeHigh traded the lead in the first half as it would change hands a total of four times.  Lehigh started the game strong, scoring their first points on a dunk to go up 2-0.  It was senior guard, Tiere Phillips (Pittsburgh, PA/Penn Hills) who would tie the game at 2 and then give Beaver their first lead (5-4) as he hit an early 3-point shot.  The remainder of the first half was a tight game with the biggest lead for Beaver being six points on another 3-pointer from Phillips at 11:26.  LeHigh would tie the game just two minutes later and take the lead, but would never get more than a seven point spread on Beaver.  With 3 minutes left in the first half, Lehigh led Beaver 36-29. Beaver answered back with a 6-0 run of their own to bring the game to 36-35 at halftime. 

In the second half Beaver got off to a slow start and didn't take the lead until senior guard Chris Best (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Ford) made a jump shot to go ahead 50-49 with just over ten minutes left. For the next several minutes the teams would exchange shots keeping the score within 4 points of each other.  It was Phillips again with a 3-point shot who gave Beaver a 5 point lead with six minutes to play and from that point Beaver never looked back.  With Beaver holding the lead LeHigh brought it within 5 points late down the stretch, but it wasn't enough to get the conference win over Beaver. The Lions went on to win 84-77. 

Beaver was led by Phillips with 28 points (6/7 from the 3 point arc), Christian James (Frederick, MD/Frederick) with 18 points, and Marcus Smith (Pittsburgh, PA/Perry) added 10 points. Beaver had 16 assists to Lehigh's 7 asssists. 

Beaver's next game is a home game December 7th at 3 p.m.