Lions come up short against Shenango

By: Matylda Zamudio

SHARON, Pa. –– The Penn State Beaver men's basketball team picked up a second PSUAC road loss after falling to Penn State Shenango 63-54 on Tuesday night. 

Senior guard John Foster (Austin/Del Valle) led Beaver in scoring with 17 points, six rebounds, one assist and one steal, followed by junior guard Sonny Martinez (Austin), who finished with 10 points and two rebounds.

1st half:  Shenango came out with a 7-0 run against the Lions, followed by sophomore forward/center Jeremy Redwine (Merced) drilled a 3-pointer at 16:37 to cut the score to 7-3. But that's when the game started to turn grime for Beaver after Shenango started to strike hot and scored 14 unanswered points to put Beaver in a 21-3 deficit midway through the first. However, Beaver turned the tables on Shenango when the team made a 21-6 run, which included five shots from behind the arc, and close the gap to only 5 points (29-24). While Shenango hit a late 3-point jumper down the stretch to make it a 10-point game, Martinez fire one right back to keep Beaver within single digits before halftime with Beaver only trailing by 7 (36-29).

2nd half: Beaver came out aggressive after the break and the team was able to tie the game 42-42 after Redwine scored a layup at the at 13:08-minute mark. However, while they kept it close, the Lions got cold on shooting without getting the crucial stops they needed, which allowed Shanango to retain the lead for the entire period and hand Beaver a 63-54 loss for the night.

Inside the Box: Beaver shot 32.2 percent from the field, connecting on 19-59 shots, 25.7 percent from 3-point range on 9-35 shots and 100 percent from the free-throw line, hitting 7-7 from the charity stripe.

The Lions are now 9-10 overall and 6-7 in the PSUAC standings. The Lions will be back for more PSUAC conference action at home this Friday, Feb. 1, where they will host Penn State Mont Alto. The game begins at 3 p.m.