Scranton Opens Conference Play on the Road at York
By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics
On Tuesday evening, the road warrior Penn State Scranton Lions men's basketball team lost their second straight contest after facing tough D2 opponent the night before. With a final score 88-65 in their conference opener to the hometown Lions from Penn State York, Scranton sees their overall record at 2-3 and they are now 0-1 in the league play schedule so far on the young hoops season.
After a neck-and-neck first half of play that saw Scranton only trail by a mere point, 28-27, the York Lions came back and outscored their opponent, 60-38, in the second half to cruise to their dominant 23 point triumph by game's end.
Scranton had the dynamic upperclassmen duo of junior guard Elijah Bryant and stand-out senior guard Jaiden Wiggins score in double figures to lead the way on the offensive side of the ball. Bryant tallied a game-high 27 points on 10-27 shooting from the floor, making one of his shots from beyond the arc, going a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe, to go along with his five rebounds, and an assist to boot in his high quality 30-minutes coming off the bench. Finally, Wiggins contributed a solid 16 points on 5-19 shooting, going 1-2 from three point land, sinking in 5-9 of his free throw shots, while collecting a robust seven boards, and six assists, playing in all 40-minutes of the showdown.
York had three players reach double figures, led by Terrell Neal's 26 points. James Barlow added 16 points and 18 rebounds, while Tony Benkovic finished with 15 points.
Now head coach Troy Jackson Jr. and his 2-3 Penn State Scranton basketball team will look to bounce back when they next host conference team Penn State Fayette this Friday night in the electric city with a scheduled prime time 8pm tip-off.
