Lions stun Lehigh Valley, 73-59

By: Matylda Zamudio

MONACA, Pa.–– The Penn State Beaver men's basketball team extended its winning streak to two games by earning a dominant 73-59 win against PSUAC rival Lehigh Valley Friday evening with the lead game scorer, senior guard John Foster (Austin/Del Valle), scoring his 1,000th career point in the game.

Foster led the way for Beaver by earning a double-double with a game-high 20 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists for the night, followed by junior guard Keon Butler (Annapolis/Star Severn School), who put up 16 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Junior guard Sonny Martinez (Austin) had an impressive performance tonight with 15 points, four rebounds and two assists.

1st half: While Lehigh Valley took the lead first, Martinez drilled a 3-pointer on an assist by Butler to take a 1-point lead at the 1-point lead at the 15 minute-mark (7-6) and delivered another jumper from downtown two and a half minutes later for Beaver to give up by 5 (14-9), which was part of an early 13-point run by the Lions (22-9). The Lions kept the momentum on their side and built a 42-38 lead to end the first half.

2nd half: The Lions stayed hot in the early minutes of the second, as they made a 15-0 point run against Lehigh Valley to put a good amount of distance on the scoreboard (53-28). Beaver built its largest lead of the game of 28 points at the 13:14 mark on a layup by junior forward Andrew Brady (Alliance/Marlington) to bring the score to 59-31. The Lions never looked back and went on to win by a final score of 73-59.

Inside the Box: Beaver shot 45 percent from the field, connecting on 27-60 shots, 13.6 percent from 3-point range on 3-22 shots and 80 percent from the free-throw line, hitting 16-20 from the charity stripe.

After tonight's win, the Lions improve to 8-7 overall and will be back at home tomorrow, Jan. 18, for another PSUAC conference showdown, where they will face off against PSUAC rival Penn State Brandywine at 3 p.m.