McKeesport, Pa. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Men’s Basketball Team (6-3, 1-0) looks to make it two wins in a row on Friday when they start the weekend off against Penn State University Athletic Conference foe Penn State Schuylkill (1-5, 0-1) at 8 p.m. PSUGA successfully started their PSUAC title defense when they beat PSU-Beaver on Tuesday 80-72 bouncing back from a loss at Notre Dame College.
It was a big day for PSUGA on Tuesday as not only did they start Conference play out with a win but they also saw two players reach career milestones. Curtis Newby (Sharon, Pa./Sharon HS) scored 29 points in the game to put him over the 1,000-point mark for his collegiate career combined between PSUGA and Community College of Beaver County. The 29 points were a season high for Newby as he led the team on the day.
Khari Hicks (East Hills, Pa./Imani Christian Academy) also reached a milestone breaking the PSUGA school record for career assists with six in the game. He captured the title rather early as he only needed two to break the record that was formerly held by Denzel Boyer-London who had 297 for his career.
PSUGA showed they have the ability to play in a tight ball game as they survived many big offensive runs by Beaver. The most notable came right before halftime when Beaver took their first lead of the game going on a 13-0 run. However, PSUGA was able to retake the lead before half and were able to hold on all the way to the end.
In the win, Jordon Payne (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) was held to a season low 11 points on the day breaking a string of six straight games scoring 20 or more points. Payne was named the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Week for Week three of the season and, after winning player of the week in the PSUAC the first two weeks of the season, is looking to keep his string of awards going in Week four.
While PSUGA has been seeing success to start the season, Schuylkill has gotten off to a rocky start this season. They opened conference play on Tuesday when they fell to Penn State Brandywine 98-87 to fall to 1-5 on the season and 0-1 in conference play. Despite Kody Jacoby’s 31-point effort, Schuylkill could not pull out the win in the contest.
PSUGA has seen a lot of success against Schuylkill in their history with an overall record of 5-1 since the 2011/12 season. Last season saw an offensive outburst for PSUGA as they had three players score in double digits in a 92-89 win. George Prota (Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth Forward) had a break out game scoring a career high 20 points in the contest and Curtis Newby and Jeremy McMunn (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills) finished with 21 and 20 points respectively.
Tip-off for Friday’s contest is scheduled for 8 p.m. at Penn State Schuylkill. It will be the first half of a Men’s and Women’s Basketball Doubleheader as the Women will play at 6 p.m.
