Lions earn playoff spot in victory against Shenango on Senior Night

By: Matylda Zamudio

MONACA, Pa. – In the high-leverage, final home game of the regular season, the Penn State Beaver men's basketball team secured a spot in the post-season by defeating PSUAC rival Penn State Shenango Tuesday night, 77-66. Tonight was also the team's Senior Night, and both senior guard John Foster (Austin/Del Valle) and senior guard Kevin Louis-Charles (Lawrenceville/ Central Gwinnett) were honored for their contributions and journey with the program.

Foster sat at the helm of the offense for Beaver tonight with a double-double and a game-high 34 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and three assists, followed by junior forward Andrew Brady (Alliance/Marlington), who also finished with a double-double --13 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and one assist.

Louis-Charles rounded-out the double-digit scoring for Beaver, as he finished with 11 points, two rebounds, two steals and one assist in the game.

1st half: The Lions came out on a mission and laid out all out on the floor from the jump as they opened the game with a 7-2 run. But Shenango battled back and tied the game on a trey at the 15th minute (7-7). But, after a quick time-out by Beaver, Foster sprang out with a jump shot to reclaim a 2-point lead (9-7). The teams kept the game close over the next few minutes, but Beaver started to put some distance on the scoreboard after Foster served up 14 straight points for the Lions in a six-minute span (25-14). While Shenango kept fighting and got the game within single digits, junior guard Sonny Martinez (Austin) fired a shot from downtown to build Beaver's lead back to double-digits (32-20), and with the Lions then going on to hold a 34-24 lead at halftime.

2nd half: With momentum on their side, the Lions kept their foot on the pedal as the second period commenced, with Martinez knocking down another trey 18 seconds in (37-24). The Lions looked fluid and fiery as the period continued, and the players did a good job moving the ball and spacing the floor, which helped them maintain a double-double lead for the next five minutes. However, with a playoff spot on the line for both teams, Shenango sparked a 6-point comeback to cut the margin to only 4 points — Lion's advantage (46-42). But at the 10:21, Louis-Charles made his presence felt as he barreled to the basket for a layup, which he then followed up with a jump shot and a jumper from behind the arch to bolster Shenango's deficit back to 10 points (58-48). Beaver stayed hot as Brady then scored 5 straight points for the Lions (61-51). But Shenango hung in there as the visitors cut down Beaver's side of the scoreboard to only 6 points at the 6:26 minute-mark to make it a two-possession game (63-57). The teams kept it close, and the game came down to the wire as a Shenango layup at 2:32 raised the tension of the arena and jeopardized Beaver's hopes of a playoff berth as the visitors were closing in (68-64). However, the Lions rose to the challenge and played lock-down defense as they held the visitors to only 2 points down to the final two minutes of play (72-66). As the clock quickly ran down, Shenango started to have foul-trouble, affording three Lions the chance to score a combined five free-throws and ice the 77-66 victory as well as a spot in the PSUAC conference playoffs.

Inside the Box: Beaver shot 50 percent from the field, connecting on 29-58 shots, 29.2 percent from 3-point range on 7-24 shots and 66.7 percent from the free-throw line, hitting 12-18 from the charity stripe.

The Lions improve to 13-11 overall and 10-8 in the PSUAC standings, sitting at third place in the west. The Lions will play their final regular-season game against Penn State Fayette on the road this Friday, Feb. 21. Tipoff is at 8 p.m.