Rivera/Payne Lead the Way in 104-76 Rout of Penn Highlands
The PSUGA Men's Basketball Team won their fourth straight game on Saturday as they defeated Penn Highlands 104-76. Jordan Payne and Makis Rivera led the way offensively to give PSUGA the win
McKeesport, Pa. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Men’s Basketball Team (4-0, 0-0) continued to put on an impressive offensive display in day two of the PSUGA Tip-off Tournament winning their fourth straight game beating Penn Highlands 104-76. The men are now off to their best start in program history with this four-game winning streak.
The game would be scoreless through the first minute and a half as the teams traded missed shots four times before Curtis Newby (Sharon, Pa./Sharon HS) picked up the first bucket of the game to give PSUGA the 2-0 lead. PSUGA would never look back from there scoring the first seven points of the game. They would stay ahead by at least that much for the rest of the game leading 54-35 at halftime and continuing to ride it out to a 104-76 win.
Everyone on the team made contributions in this game and it allowed head coach Tyler Care to rest some of his starters for the majority of the second half. The last three minutes of the contest featured the entire bench. In total on the day, the bench contributed 48 of the team’s 104 total points.
Jordan Payne (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) continued his offensive success putting up a season high 25 points to go along with one rebound and three assists. It was Payne’s fourth straight game scoring over 17 points and his second straight game of at least 20 or more points. Payne was last season’s points per game leader with 14.3 and he looks to continue that scoring ability this season.
Makis Rivera (Pittsburgh, Pa./Imani Christian Academy) had a break out game off the bench collecting his first double-double of the season scoring a career high 18 points and collecting 12 rebounds on the day. Rivera has begun to see more playing time this season and has taken advantage of the opportunity that has been handed to him.
Rivera and Payne were two of the five PSUGA players to finish in double digits on the day as Khari Hicks (East Hills, Pa./Imani Christian Academy) had 10, Jeremy McMunn (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills) had a season high 11, and Kenny Rouse (Duquesne, Pa./West Mifflin) finished the day with 13. Curtis Newby picked up his third double-double in four games finishing right behind Makis Rivera with 12 rebounds on the day. Khari Hicks continues to feed the ball to his play makers as he finished the day with a team leading nine rebounds.
PSUGA is now off to their best start in program history having won four straight games to start the season. They are now averaging 93.0 points per game and have two 100-point performances in their first four outings.
They will be put to the test once again on Wednesday as they face their second Division II school in a week when they take on Clarion at 7 p.m. They are coming off of a win against Division II Point Park last Wednesday and try to take their confidence and offensive ability into the Clarion game.