Beaver Bounces Back With Win Against Penn State New Kensington

By: Evan Pinchot

Monaca, Pa -- The Penn State Beaver men's basketball team played host to the men of Penn State New Kensington, looking to end a three game losing streak with a big conference win. The Beaver men come into this game with a 4-5 conference record, and while the team has lost three of their last four conference games since returning from break, they still have a shot to make the PSUAC playoffs with a win over New Kensington. Coming off of back to back close loses, including an overtime heartbreaker, Beaver looks to continue their good play against New Kensington with the hopes of a better outcome.

The first half of this game started off with Beaver taking an early lead, getting off to a hot start thanks to a couple early three pointers. Beaver was able to move the ball very well in the first half, shooting an impressive 55% from the field and tallying 16 assists as a team. New Kensington was no match for Beaver's speed early on, and while they were able to keep up with a few clutch threes of their own, the game was securely in Beaver's hands from the start of this one. With about seven minutes left in the first half, New Kensington looked as if they were starting to figure Beaver out, but that was short lived as Beaver went on a big 18-7 run in the last three minutes before half, eventually ending with a score of 59-40.

Beaver came out in the second half with a lot of confidence and energy, getting the crowd into the game and feeding off of their energy as well. The team seemed to be firing on all cylinders in this game, as seemingly every player contributed to this win in some way throughout the game. Beaver's scoring was mainly led by two players in the second half; Senior Ignacio Alleyne (Stafford, VA / Colonial Forge), who scored 12 points in the half, and Dominique Stevenson (Rochester NY / Ithica), who tallied 15 points. The team seemd to almost be on cruise control in this half of play, as they maintained a healthy double digit lead throughout. As the game came to a close New Kensington managed to cut down on Beaver's lead by a small margin, but they never managed to get within striking distance as Beaver walked away from this one with a 104-90 win.

With their big win over New Kensington, Beaver keeps themselves in contention for a spot in the PSUAC playoffs with a 5-5 conference record. While the team still holds a losing overall record at 9-10, they have been improving with every game and are still very much alive when it comes to conference play. The team had a lot of big contributors in their win tonight, but Beaver's leading scorer was Senior Ignacio Alleyne, who led the team with 26 points. Two players also had impressive performances tonight, as Freshmen Markel Sayles (Pittsburgh, PA / Perry Traditional) and Dimetres Moore (Mesa, Az / Skyline) both finish the game with double-doubles. The team will play next on Friday, January 27, at Penn State York. Game time is set for 8 pm.