McKeesport, PA. – As the regular season comes down to it’s final day, the Penn State Greater Allegheny Men’s Basketball team (15-8, 12-6) plays it’s biggest game of the season with home-court advantage on the line when they take on Penn State Fayette (10-14, 10-8) on Friday at 8 p.m. PSUGA needs a win and at least one loss by Penn State Shenango in their final two conference games in order to clinch the #2 seed in the Penn State University Athletic Conference West Division.
It was a loss on Tuesday night to Shenango that set up this scenario dropping PSUGA to 12-6 in conference play and giving them just a half game lead over the surging Shenango team. They tried to get back on track in non-conference action last time out, but fell to Division III Chatham University 82-59. Offense was hard to come by throughout the night for head coach Tyler Care’s team and after scoring just 24 points in the first half, they were unable to make a comeback.
Despite the loss, there were some positives to take away from the loss on Wednesday night. Senior Jordon Payne (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS), who has been off the past couple games, got back on track leading the team with 20 points including an 8-0 run that he created by himself halfway through the second half. Payne shot 4-9 (44.4%) from beyond the arc and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.
PSUGA got a nice look to the future as well with a big game from freshman Marquest Rainey (Pittsburgh, PA./Allderdice HS) who scored a career high 13 points in the game. Rainey made the most of his season high 19 minutes in the game and took advantage of his opportunities when he got the ball in his hands.
Wednesday marked the first time PSUGA has lost back-to-back games since December 7th when they dropped their third straight game to Villa Maria. However, PSUGA will look to keep the last two games in the past and focus on the task ahead of securing a home playoff game. They need some help in order to do it, but head coach Tyler Care keeps the same mentality of one game at a time as the season comes towards an end.
PSU-Fayette enters Friday’s game on the complete opposite trend having won their last five games and getting themselves back into the playoff picture. Their latest win was a come from behind effort to beat PSU-Hazleton 81-77. Fayette trailed 35-34 at halftime, but Tavian Mozie led his team to a 46-point second half scoring 24 of those on his own as Fayette came back to take the win. Mozie finished with a game high 30 points and was one of three Fayette players to finish in double digits.
PSUGA has a 7-9 record in 16 previous matchups with PSU-Fayette including a 78-74 win earlier this season. Antonio Hill (West Mifflin, PA./West Mifflin HS) had a big game in the win leading his team with 18 points and being one of three PSUGA players to finish in double digits. That win gave PSUGA it’s third of it’s season high six straight wins to end 2018 and start 2019.
Tip-off for Friday’s game is scheduled for 8 p.m. as the second half of a men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader at the Penn State Fayette campus.
