GA Men's Hoops Edged Out by WCCC, 75-72
McKeesport, Pa. - The Penn State Greater Allegheny men's basketball team came up short in the first game of the season over Westmoreland County Community College, Tuesday evening, by a tally of 75-72.
McKeesport, Pa. - The Penn State Greater Allegheny men's basketball team came up short in the first game of the season over Westmoreland County Community College, Tuesday evening, by a tally of 75-72.
WCCC was the first to get on the board before freshman guard Jordan Payne (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) completed a layup, 4-2 WCCC. Sophomore forward Curtis Newby (Sharon, Pa./Sharon) added a layup as WCCC started to pull away, widening the gap to 10-4. Both senior guard Jashaun Fontanez (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) and Payne both marked two free-throws a piece before both freshman forward Isaiah Fluker (Waldorf, Md./Thomas Stone) and junior guard Moe Alli (Edison, N.J./Cardinal McCarrick) tacked on a layup a piece, 16-12 WCCC.
The wolfpack continued their stride as Payne and sophomore forward Antonio Lucic-Jozak (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) dumpd on jumpers and freshman guard Marcus Ball (Warsaw, Va./Rappahannock) made a layup, 21-18 WCCC.
Fontanez made a layup before Fluker drained a three-pointer, the Lions behind just four points. Alli and Newby both added layups before Payne tacked on a trey, 31-29 WCCC. Sophomore guard Denzel Boyer-London (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) tied up the score at 31 before Newby added a free-throw. Westmoreland County got away as the first half wound down, sending the two teams to the locker rooms by a 40-32 Westmoreland County Community College lead.
Fontanez exploded to start the second half, as the senior guard contributed nine points by the way of a three-pointer, two free-throws and a pair of jumpers, closing the lead to 43-41 WCCC. Boyer-London put down a free-throw before Fluker and Hicks both complete layups. Fluker drained a free-throw to tie the game at 47 with just 12 minutes left to play in the game.
Fontanez drives nine-straight points to battle WCCC for the lead, 56-51 Greater Allegheny. Newby them aced a free-throw before Fluker made a layup, 59-55 with less than seven minutes to play.
In a three-minute span, Ball and Fluker both make a layup each as Fontanez drained a trey as well as a layup to lead into a Fluker dunk, 70-67 Lions.
Free-throws swelled Westmoreland County Community College through the final two minutes of action, holding Greater Allegheny to just one Fontanez jumper, ending the game by a 75-72 Greater Allegheny setback.
Fontanez wrapped up the evening with 29 points on a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line as well as ten buckets from the floor. The senior also posted four assists, three rebounds and two steals. Fluker downed 14 points, as he went 6-for-8 from the floor, with six rebounds and an assist. Newby pulled down 12 rebounds with six points and three steals as Payne put up 11 points, five rebounds and three steals.
As a team, Greater Allegheny completed 58% (14-of-24) of their free-throws attempted while out-rebounding the visitors, 47-42. GA dropped 38 points in the paint with 23 points coming off the bench and 17 points of turnovers.
Greater Allegheny (0-1) will take a break before they go on their first road trip of the season with the women's team to Maine. The men will look to go up against Southern Maine Community College on Saturday and Central Maine Community College on Sunday. For Saturday's 3 p.m. tip-off, there will be both live stats and video for each game. Click the respective words. For Sunday's 2 p.m. first touch, there will also be live stats and video. Again, click the respective words.