Monaca, PA. – It took a little extra time on Monday night, but the Penn State Greater Allegheny Men’s Basketball Team (6-4, 3-3) took down Penn State Beaver (8-4, 4-2) 81-76. After picking up a huge win before the holiday break to get back on track, PSUGA was able to keep the momentum going and got back to .500 in conference play setting themselves up for a race to the Penn State University Athletic Conference playoffs.
It was a back and forth battle early as the teams fought to a 14-12 score halfway through the first quarter of play. It would be PSUGA that got the first big advantage of the night going on a 10-0 run to push the score to 24-12 just five minutes later. Beaver fought to get back into the game, but PSUGA held them off heading into halftime ahead 31-27.
PSUGA would continue to keep their foot on the gas pedal to start off the second half scoring 12 of the first 14 points to push the score to 40-29. However, that is when the Beaver comeback began as they scored the next nine points and made it a 43-39. The battle continued throughout the quarter with Beaver tying the game four times but never taking the lead away from PSUGA.
The game was tied 63-63 heading into the final minute of regulation and a pair of free throws by each team sent this game into overtime. The teams would trade the first six points of the overtime period before PSUGA put the game away for good going on an 8-0 run that put the game away for good and gave PSUGA the 81-76 win.
Senior Antonio Hill (West Mifflin, PA./West Mifflin HS) had his best game in a PSUGA uniform putting up a team leading 24 points while Jordon Payne (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS) put up 19 points in the win. Mhonte Newsome (Baltimore, MD./Our Lady of Sacred Heart) led the defense with seven rebounds and Kenny Rouse (Duquesne, Pa./West Mifflin HS) had a team high four assists.
With the win, PSUGA gets back to .500 in conference play and sets themselves up for a chance to fight for a fourth consecutive trip to the PSUAC playoffs. While they aren’t where they would like to be, with 13 games left on the conference schedule, there is still plenty of time for PSUGA to grab one of the top four spots in the PSUAC West Division.
PSUGA continues their push for the 2018-2019 PSUAC playoffs when they take on Penn State Fayette on Wednesday at 8 p.m.