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PSU Harrisburg rallies past Penn College during second half

By Jon Gerardi 5 min read

Penn College battled Penn State Harrisburg, the best team in the United East, as tough and well as it could throughout the first half on Friday night at Bardo Gymnasium. The two teams went shot for shot in the first 20 minutes, and Penn College seemingly was able to answer everything PSU Harrisburg had.

But coming out of the half, things started shifting and changing. Penn College didn’t seem to have the answers it did in the first half and slowly, PSU Harrisburg pulled away. A two-point game at halftime ballooned into a double-digit lead for PSU Harrisburg and the Lions kept up the offensive pressure.

Penn College tried to chip away in the second half, but couldn’t quite rally in a 92-74 loss.

The win improves PSU Harrisburg to 12-1 overall and 5-0 in the United East while the Wildcats fall to 2-9 and 2-2 in the league.

Throughout the first half, both teams used 10-0 runs to take leads. The Wildcats held a lead by as many as eight when Loyalsock graduate Rees Watkins hit a jumper with 9:39 to play to make it a 28-20 lead. But the Lions kept battling and cut it down.

The Wildcats wanted to limit what PSU Harrisburg did in the paint, and did that great throughout the first half.

“That was our focus. We watched them on film. They’re very good at attacking the basket. No. 22 for them, Dylan Daniels, is an All-American post-up player. So we wanted to take the paint away from them and dare them to beat us from 3,” Penn College coach Geoff Hensley said. “It worked out great in the first half. Second half, they just got a little confident out there and it went bad really quick.”

It was a huge 14-0 run by the Lions which put the game out of reach for the Wildcats. That 14-0 run gave the Lions a 67-49 lead with 14:30 to play, and while Penn College continued to play tough and try to cut the lead, the Wildcats were only able to get the deficit under 20 points twice in the final 11 minutes, 40 seconds of the game.

“They’re a really good team, they’re a really tough matchup for anybody in our conference. Our guys battled very well in the first half,” Hensley said. “We got great shots and we took care of the basketball. In the second half, we just lost a little bit of that focus. A lot of their points were because of turnovers.”

Penn College was led by Jesse White’s 19-point, 10-rebound double-double and Gavin Barrett’s 12 points. Corey Blackwell and Nouhanadou Diallo both added nine for the Wildcats

“They’re impact players. Jesse’s defensive tenacity and rebounding helped us so much on the defensive end. Gavin’s our floor leader. He gets the ball to the right guys and can make plays,” Hensley said. “So those guys are our two leaders on the court. The great thing is we have Corey Blackwell and Max Jackowsky, we have Gerald Ross, Reese Watkins. So many players around them that when we all click and are on the same page, we’re a really good team.”

The Lions were led by Zegary Scott III’s 24 points. Brandon Coleman added 14, Donyae Baylor-Carroll scored 13, Daniels scored 12 and reserve Pedro Rodriguez chipped in 10 for PSU Harrisburg.

The Lions did a lot of damage from 3-point range. PSU Harrisburg hit 12 3-pointers in the game, eight of which came from the first half.

“I’ve got to find a way to figure out how to take them out of that rhythm. Give them credit, they’re a very good basketball team,” Hensley said. “We battled with them for one half. Next time we play them, we just have to put together a full 40-minute game.”

The Wildcats are on the road for their next two games at Lancaster Bible (Monday) and Wells (Wednesday) before returning to Bardo Gym for a game against Morrisville State on Saturday, Jan. 22.

PSU HARRISBURG (12-1, 5-0 UE)

Brandon Coleman 5-10 3-3 14; Donyae Baylor-Carroll 4-13 2-3 13; Zegary Scott III 10-16 2-4 24; Nate Curry 3-7 0-0 7; Dylan Daniels 4-6 3-3 12; Chris Haynes 2-5 0-0 6; Lance Douglas 0-0 2-2 2; Pedro Rodriguez 3-8 2-2 10; Josh Martin 0-1 0-0 0;Alex Leiba 0-1 0-0 0; Malik Holland 0-3 0-0 0; Robert Bobeck 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-70 14-17 92.

PENN COLLEGE (2-9, 2-2 UE)

Corey Blackwell 3-8 1-2 9; Gavin Barrett 5-5 2-2 12; Max Jackowsky 2-7 0-1 6; Jesse White 9-11 0-4 19; Chris Coyne 1-4 0-0 2; David Brown 3-3 0-0 8; Christian Chandler 0-0 0-0 0; Will Sulesky 0-0 0-0 0; James Ross 2-5 0-0 5; Nouhanadou Diallo 4-8 0-0 9; John Paulino 0-0 0-0 0; Rees Watkins 2-3 0-1 4; Chris Cespedes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-54 3-10 74.

Halftime: PSU-H 49-47.

3-point goals: PSU-H 12-3(Baylor-Carroll 3-9, Scott III 2-6, Haynes 2-4, Rodriguez 2-7, Daniels 1-1, Curry 1-2, Coleman 1-4, Holland 0-3), PCT 9-24 (Jackowsky 2-5, Brown 2-2, Blackwell 2-6, White 1-2, Ross 1-3, Diallo 1-3, Coyne 0-3). Fouled out: PSU-H-none; PCT-none. Rebounds: PSU-H 34 (Daniels 7), PCT 33 (White 10). Assists: PSU-H 17 (Scott III 7), PCT 21 (Ross 5). Technical fouls: PSU-H-team; PCT-team. Total fouls: PSU-H 15, PCT 17. A: 235.

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