Scranton Loses a Heart Breaker to Brandywine

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

After a long 10 day Thanksgiving holiday break, the visiting Penn State Scranton Lions men's basketball squad took the court on Tuesday evening and lost a nail-biter to conference rival Penn State Brandywine by a score of 62-58. With the defeat, Scranton now has a 3-6 overall record and are 0-3 in their all-important league play schedule.

It was a tale of two halves that decided the contest, as the road warrior Lions from Scranton dominated the first half by outscoring their opponent by 16 points, 32-16, before Brandywine came roaring right back in the game's final 20-minutes and outscored Scranton by a whopping 20 points, 46-26, to complete their impressive four point improbable comeback victory.

Scranton had a trio of players score in double figures on the night, as junior big man Marcus Delesline, sophomore Ryan Cabrera, and fellow sophomore Gary Natale Jr. set the pace offensively for their squad. Delesline notched another double-double with his stalwart team-high 18 points and 11 rebounds, made a three pointer, was 7-9 from the charity stripe, and added a pair of assists in his stellar 31-minutes of game action. Cabrera tallied a quality 15 points on an impressive 5-9 shooting from the field, made 4-7 of his shots from three point land, to go along with his eight boards, a steal, and a block to boot. Last but certainly not least, Natale Jr. came off the bench and provided a nice spark for his club in his 20-minutes on the court, scoring 12 points, all coming from long distance with his lethal 4-9 shooting from beyond the arc, and added a rebound for good measure.

Meanwhile, Brandywine also had a hat trick of players score in double digits, as senior Colin Hockenbrock, fellow senior Johnta Dunson, and junior forward Dillon Jones led the way for their ball club. Hockenbrock notched a double-double with his game-high 19 points and 15 boards, shot a highly efficient 8-15 from the floor, made a three pointer, to go along with his quartet of steals on defense, three assists, and a trio of blocks he had in his impressive 36-minutes of play. Dunson just missed out on a double-double of his own with his quality 14 points and nine rebounds, and added five assists during the festivities. Finally, Jones also tallied 14 points, making 4-9 from downtown, to go along with his seven boards, and a block in his 20-minutes of hard work.

Now first-year head coach Michael Foder and his 3-6 Penn State Scranton Lions men's basketball team will look to bounce back and snap their four game losing streak when they next host local non-conference foe Misericordia University's JV squad this upcoming Thursday night, with a scheduled 7pm prime time tip-off start time.