Men Eye Sixth Win in a Row vs. Scranton
The PSUGA Men's Basketball team is eyeing their sixth straight win when they take on PSU-Scranton Friday at 8 p.m. Jordon Payne looks to keep his string of success going after a 26 point effort on Tuesday.
McKeesport, PA. – Since the calendar turned to 2019, the Penn State Greater Allegheny Men’s Basketball team (9-4, 6-3) has gone a perfect 4-0 and have won each of their last five ball games. They will look to keep the perfect year going when they take on Penn State Scranton (2-11, 0-9) on Friday at 8 p.m. inside the Wunderly Gymnasium.
It took a comeback effort last time out but PSUGA was able to overtake PSU-Mont Alto 83-77 for their fifth straight win. It was a struggle early on in the game as Mont Alto got the first advantage and took the momentum into halftime where they led PSUGA 39-33. It was the first time during the team’s win streak that PSUGA had been down at halftime and Tyler Care and his team were looking for a way to get back into the game.
They turned to a familiar face in senior Jordon Payne (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS) who exploded for 19 of his team leading 26 points coming in the second half. Payne’s efforts came as part of a 50-point second half that was enough to push PSUGA into the lead for good coming up with their fifth straight victory.
To go along with Payne’s effort, four other PSUGA players finished in double digits including Mhonte Newsome (Baltimore, MD./Our Lady of Mt. Saint Carmel) who scored 19 points while pulling down a career high 16 rebounds in the game. Antonio Hill (West Mifflin, PA./West Mifflin HS) kept his recent string of success going with 12 points.
The win moved PSUGA into a three-way tie atop the Penn State University Athletic Conference West Division with PSU-Beaver and Mont Alto. During the course of this five game winning streak, PSUGA has managed to climb from fifth place in the division all the way up to a tie for the top spot in a span of just four weeks.
PSU-Scranton comes into Friday’s game on a very opposite stretch where they have dropped their last 10 games. It wasn’t easy for Scranton last time out when they gave up 60 first half points on their way to a 109-68 loss. Bailey Rumford came off the bench with 18 points for Scranton while Tom Gonzales led with 12 points in the starting lineup.
In eight previous matchups between the two teams they have split getting four wins a piece. It has been PSUGA that has had the recent success, however, winning each of the last three games including a 101-70 win last season. It was a big day for Payne who had 25 points off the bench in the win.
Tip-off for Friday’s game is scheduled for 8 p.m. inside the Wunderly Gym. You can watch all the action live by clicking here.