Penn State Scranton Lions Basketball Fall in Conference Showdown with York

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

Coming off their long 10 day Thanksgiving holiday break, the Penn State Scranton men's basketball squad dropped a tough 82-63 road conference battle with Penn State York on Tuesday night to wrap up their busy November schedule of ball games. With this defeat, Scranton's overall record falls back to the .500 mark at 4-4 and in the all-important league play they now stand at 1-3 in the early stages of their 2022-2023 campaign.

At the close of the first half, the Lions from Scranton were down by just single digits, nine points, 35-26, as the highly competitive game was still up for grabs. However in the game's final 20 minutes of play, York seized control of the contest and never looked back by outscoring Scranton 47-37 in the second half, as they cruised to their 19 point impressive home victory.

On the night, Scranton was led on offense by their three double digits scorers, as sophomore big man Marcus Delesline, junior stand-out guard Macio Robinson, and freshman Antonio Torres set the pace. Delesline, who has become a double-double machine and a low post dominant force all season long, just missed out on another double-double, as he tallied a team-high 20 points and nine rebounds, to go along with his two assists, and highly efficient 9-12 shooting from the field in his stellar 27 minutes on the court. Robinson put up 15 points, three assists, two boards, and connected on two of his six attempts from three point land. Last but certainly not least, Torres provided a much needed spark for his club coming off the bench in his 21 minutes of game action, as he scored 11 points, had three rebounds, an assist, and drilled in three of his six shots from beyond the arc.

Penn State York had a well-rounded offensive attack, as four of their players put up double figure scoring performances, as senior John John Gillespie, fellow senior D'Andre Davis, junior Deriq Brown, and fellow junior Kymir Roper led the way. Gillespie scored a game-high 22 points, to go along with his three rebounds, two steals, two blocks, and an assist during his stalwart 34 minutes on the floor. Davis came off the bench and in his 15 minutes of quality work put up 17 points, six boards, and four assists. Brown notched 13 points, six rebounds, six assists, and had a steal on the evening. Finally, Roper had the game's only double-double, as he tallied 10 points and 12 boards, and added an assist to boot in his gritty performance.

Now head coach Chris Sload and his 4-4 Penn State Scranton men's basketball team will look to snap their mini two game losing streak in their next contest, when they travel on the road this upcoming Saturday, December 3^rd, to take on nearby conference rival Penn State Wilkes-Barre, with tip-off scheduled for 3pm. Meanwhile, head coach Matt Rotonda and his Penn State York squad, who now improves to 9-2 overall and a perfect 4-0 in conference play to kick-off their season in dominant fashion, will look to continue their winning ways this Friday night when they travel on the road to take on league rival Penn State Fayette, with tip-off at 8pm.