Lions lose close game to Mont Alto

By: Matylda Zamudio

MONACA Pa. –– After a late rally in the second half to trail by a single point with 48 seconds to play, the Penn State Beaver men's basketball team lost a close battle to the first-seeded Penn State Mont Alto 48-45 in Saturday afternoon's PSUAC match.

Senior guard John Foster (Austin/Del Valle) topped Beaver's scoring list with 12 points, five rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block.

Junior guard Keon Butler (Annapolis/Star Severn School) finished with 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists and one steal.

Senior guard Kevin Louis-Charles (Lawrenceville/ Central Gwinnett) also finished with 11 points and four rebounds for the day. 

1st half:  Mont Alto came out ahead 11-2 in the first five minutes of the game as the Lions were cold from downtown, missing four 3-point attempts in the span. At the 10th minute, Louis-Charles nailed a trey to cut the margin to single digits at 15-8—Beaver trailing by 7 points. The Lions were knocking on the door of a comeback after junior guard Sonny Martinez (Austin) kicked it to sophomore forward/center Jeremy Redwine (Merced), who converted for 2 points to make it a 5-point game at 19-14. Beaver ended the half down by 5 points (21-16).

2nd half: While Mont Alto stretched the lead out to 8 points at 17:10, Louis-Charles scored 5 straight points the last three of which was on a shot from behind the arc on an assist by Butler to get make it a one-possession game (27-23). But momentum swung back in Mont Alto's direction shortly after as the opponents went up by double-figures once again (36-26). However, Redwine answered with back-to-back treys, followed by a third straight three for Beaver courtesy of Martinez to make it a one-point game at 36-35. Then starting at the 4:31 mark, Butler served up four straight free-throws for Beaver, which he followed up with a defensive rebound 30 seconds later, finding an open foster to bank a layup and finally take the lead from Mont Alto (41-40). But Mont Alto fought back with a 7-0 late run to but the Lions behind 5 with 1:20 left to play (46-40). However, another Butler free-throw pair with a clutch Foster 3-pointer at the 48-second mark made it a one-point game, once again (46-45). But late foul by the Lions sent Mont Alto to the line for two, resulting in a 48-45 loss in the match.

Inside the Box: Beaver shot 29.4 percent from the field, connecting on 15-51 shots, 24 percent from 3-point range on 6-25 shots and 75 percent from the free-throw line, hitting 9-12 from the charity stripe.

The Lions fall to 9-11 overall and 6-8 in the PSUAC standings. The Lions will be back for more PSUAC conference action at home this Tuesday, Feb. 4, where they will host Penn State DuBois. The game begins at 8 p.m.