Scranton Lions Fall to King’s College

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

In a Tuesday evening home contest against local non-conference foe King's College, the Penn State Scranton Lions men's basketball squad lost 85-57 to drop their first game on their home court this season. After dropping this decision, Scranton sees their overall record all knotted up at 3-3 heading into their all-important conference play schedule starting up this weekend, with their big early season highlight coming from winning their second straight Penn State Scranton tip-off tournament championship last week.

The road warrior King's College Monarchs got off to a fast start taking a 10 point, 38-28, advantage into the half-time locker room. In the showdown's final 20-minutes, King's continued to roll outscoring the Lions 47-29 in the second half, as they cruised to their dominant 28 point triumph by game's end.

The Lions from Scranton had the dynamic duo of junior big man Marcus Delesline and sophomore guard Gary Natale Jr. score in double figures to set the pace offensively for their ball club. Delesline notched another double-double with his rock solid team-high 13 points and 13 rebounds, shooting an efficient 6-11 from the field, to go along with his trio of assists, and a steal in his stellar 26-minutes of game action. Last but certainly not least, Natale Jr. came off the bench and provided a nice spark for his squad in his quality 17-minutes on the court, tallying 11 points, connecting on three of his shots from beyond the arc, and had two boards to boot.

Meanwhile, King's had a whopping four players score in double digits on the night, as Chris Patton, Eamonn Walsh, Carmine Castiello, and Jaden Hall led the way. Patton scored a game-high 16 points on 6-12 shooting and making 1-2 of his shots from downtown, to go along with six rebounds, and a hat trick of steals in his 25-minutes on the floor. Walsh also put up 16 points on 6-12 shooting from the field, making 2-4 of his shots from three point range, to go along with his seven boards, a quartet of assists, and a steal. Castiello had 12 points on 4-9 shooting, making a three pointer, and had five assists, four rebounds, and a pair of steals on defense. Finally, Hall came off the bench and in only 12-minutes on the court scored 11 points on 4-7 shooting from the field, was a lethal 3-6 from beyond the arc, and had a block for good measure.

Now first-year head coach Michael Foder and his 3-3 Penn State Scranton Lions men's basketball team will look to bounce back and capture a big win in their conference opener this upcoming Friday night, when they travel on the road to square off against league rival Penn State Shenango, with a 8pm prime time scheduled tip-off.