Greater Allegheny Men's Hoops Slighted by UPJ, 100-80

Johnstown, Pa. - The Penn State Greater Allegheny men's basketball team fell to NCAA Division II University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Wednesday night, by a score of 100-80.

Sophomore guard Jordon Payne (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) was first to answer in the game with a good three-pointer as senior forward Jumanne Butler-McDaniel (Franklin, N.J./Cardinal McCarrick) completed a layup. Both junior guard Denzel Boyer-London (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) and junior guard Curtis Newby (Sharon, Pa./Sharon) answered before Butler-McDaniel, Payne and junior guard Khari Hicks (East Hills, Pa./Imani Christian Academy) nailed three-pointers, 40-27 UPJ.

Hicks added seven consecutive points before sophomore guard Juwan Ledbetter (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) hit the last points of the half with a trey, 47-37 UPJ.

Junior guard Jeremy McMunn (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills) drilled three consecutive three-pointers within a minute and a half to cut the lead to six, 52-46. Hicks and senior guard Moe Alli (Edison, N.J./Cardinal McCarrick) put up layups while Newby noted a layup and one. Freshman guard Colby Hall (Hopewell, Va./Dinwiddle High) downed a layup as Newby continued with five points. 

McMunn hammered down a three-pointer to bring the score to 82-63 with eight minutes remaining in regulation. Newby and Ledbetter added points in the paint as Payne netted two from the foul line. Alli hammered a three-pointer before Payne and sophomore forward George Prota (Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth Foward) marked jumpers. Freshman guard Connor Paoletti (Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth Forward) finished the scoring drive for the Lions with four points from the foul line, Greater Allegheny falling 100-80.

Newby put up 14 points with four boards as Payne shot 50% (4-of-8) from the floor, including three treys, for 13 points, seven assists, three rebounds and a steal. Hicks came off the bench with 14 points, four assists and two boards as the guard shot 100% (3-for-3) from outside the arc.

As a team, Greater Allegheny was out-rebounded 43-26 as the Lions downed 84.6% (11-of-13) from the free throw line and 61.9% (13-of-21) from the arc. GA converted 19 points off of turnovers with 22 points in the paint and nine points off second-chance.

Greater Allegheny (7-3, 3-0 PSUAC) travels to Penn State DuBois for a Penn State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) double-header with the women. The men are set to tip-off around 8 p.m. on Friday December 9th.