Beaver falls short in tight contest to Shenango, 71-70

By: Matylda Zamudio

Sharon, Pa. – The Penn State Beaver men's basketball team battled hard until the end but lost a tight game against Penn State Shenango on Tuesday night, 71-70.

Topping Beaver's scoring list was junior guard PSUAC Player of the Week John Foster (Austin/Del Valle) with a game-high 35 points followed by freshman forward/center Jeremy Redwine (Merced), who contributed 14 points of his own coming off the bench. Freshman guard Sonny Martinez (Austin) also chipped in a notable 11 points for Beaver as well.

1st half: Foster opened up the scoring, dropping a quick 3-pointer in the first 47 seconds of the game (3-0). The defense got aggressive early, forcing two turnovers in the three and a half minutes to help forge an 11-5 run by Beaver. At 12:46, Foster hit another shot from behind the arch on an assist by Redwine to give Beaver a double-digit lead (19-9), but an 8-point run halfway through the first would make it a one-possession game (19-17). Beaver started to build up its lead again, with Redwine contributing a 3-pointer of his own at 6:45 to put Beaver up by two scores (24-19), but Shenango forged a 10-point comeback to take the lead from Beaver with three minutes left before halftime (29-24). The Lions only scored 1 more point, which led them to trail by 11 at halftime (36-25).

2nd half: Foster got Beaver's deficit done to a single digit with a layup followed by two back-to-back sunk shots from downtown to get Beaver back on track (39-33). At 14:27, Foster hit another 3-point jumper bring Shenango's lead down to only a single point (43-42). At 10:49, Martinez took back the lead for Beaver with a clutch 3-pointer down the stretch (47-45). The teams were neck-to-neck, exchanging the lead back and forth down to the last four seconds of the game, with Beaver up by 1 (70-69). However, Shenango was awarded two free-throw attempts, hitting both to take a 1-point lead over Beaver. With time running out, PSUAC Player of the Week sophomore forward Andrew Brady (Alliance/Marlington) attempted a jumper from behind the arch, but the shot didn't fall, and Beaver fell by only 1 point to Shenango (71-70).

Box Score Highlights: Beaver allotted three more assists than Shenango (15-12), outscored Shenango 8-2 on second-chance points, and Beaver's bench outscored Shenango's bench 14-11.

With today's loss, Beaver drops to second place in the PSUAC-West standings (6-3) with a 10-5 overall season record. Beaver will be back in action to host Penn State Hazleton on Friday, Jan. 18. The game is slated for 7 p.m.