Week 14: Matt Dessoye
DUNMORE, PA – Last weekend, for the first time, PSU Scranton Athletics along with the PSUAC, carried out a 3’s for THON initiative to help raise funds and awareness for THON, Penn State’s student-run philanthropy committed to enhancing the lives of children and families impacted by childhood cancer. During the weekend double-headers, PSU Scranton hosted PSUAC west campuses DuBois and Greater Allegheny in what would end up being narrow squeak victories for the visiting teams.
Matt Dessoye, junior starting point guard for Scranton, made a big impact on the court in both match ups, scoring 40 points in the weekend and adding 18 assists. In Friday nights game, Penn State Scranton led by 11 points against DuBois as the teams took to the locker room at the half. It didn’t take long for the DuBois offense to heat up as they outscored Scranton by 13 in the second half. With six minutes left in the game, DuBois took the lead 72-68 when Dessoye landed a deep three, bringing it to a 2-point game. Despite the comeback and clutch 3-pointers from teammate Rob McAndrew, Scranton fell just one basket shy of tying the game and sending it to OT as DuBois escaped with the victory, 83-81. Matt finished Friday’s game with 18 points and 6 assists.
On Saturday, Scranton hosted visitors Greater Allegheny in what would be another nail biter. Down by 9 points at the half, McAndrew started the offensive out of the locker room, landing 2 three-pointers and Dessoye followed suit. After four minutes of second-half play, the two helped close the point differential by one field goal, 43-41. Despite scoring 15 of his 22 points for the day, Dessoye and the Scranton offense fell short of the victory, 86-81.
Ready to bounce back from the weekend, Dessoye and the Scranton offense hit the court hard on the road on Tuesday, facing PSU Lehigh Valley at Cedar Crest College. Sealing a 15-point lead by halftime, with Dessoye the high scorer on the court with 19-points, Lehigh Valley battled to close the gap. As the home team took the lead for the first time in the game, Scranton found themselves trailing by a field goal with seven seconds on the clock, 74-76. It was Dessoye, coming off of two missed shots in the paint, who dropped a clutch three before time expired, redeeming Scranton and sealing the road victory.
"We were down by two so I knew we at least had to get some type of basket. I just went to breakdown my defender and try to create something and when he bit on my drive, I knew I had enough room to step back and hit the three. It felt real good to seal a road victory. We have been in a lot of close games lately and haven't been coming out with the W, so this feels really good and hopefully we can get a few more before the season ends," said Dessoye.
In the three games, Dessoye accumulated 66 points, 10 rebounds and 18 assists. You can catch Matt Dessoye and the team this Satuday, February 1 ast 3:00 pm as they host Penn State Schuylkill.