Scranton Lions Trounce Falcons

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

SCRANTON, Pa - On Monday night in a battle for electric city basketball supremacy, the visiting Penn State Scranton Lions men's hoops team dominated throughout in their commanding 23 point, 86-63, road victory over their nearby hometown non-conference foe the Lackawanna College Falcons. With this triumph, the Lions are now on a two game winning streak and see their overall record improve to 2-1 on the young basketball season.

The Lions from Scranton sprinted out to a sizeable 10 point, 44-34, early advantage by the time the end of the first half buzzer sounded and never looked back. In the contest's final 20-minutes of action, Scranton outscored Lackawanna by a 13 point, 42-29, margin to stretch out their lead and cruise to their over-powering 23 point win by game's end.

Scranton was led on the offensive attack by the three headed monster of freshman forward Mario Olivieri, senior guard Xavier Noble, and freshman guard Zay Fowlks who all put up stellar double digit scoring performances on the night to set the pace for their ball club. Olivieri recorded a stalwart double-double with a game-high 33 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, shot a lights out 16-20 from the field, and added a block for good measure. Noble came off the bench and provided a nice spark for his squad tallying a high quality 18 points on 6-13 shooting from the field, with all six of his made baskets coming from long distance range, to go along with his hat trick of boards, an assist, and a steal to boot. Last but certainly not least, Fowlks also put up an impressive double-double with his 14 points and 12 rebounds, sinking in one of his shots from three point land and making all three of his shots from the charity stripe, to go along with a pair of assists, a steal, and a block.

Meanwhile, the Falcons from Lackawanna had just one lone player score in double figures, as sophomore Shawnn Smith led the way on the offensive side of the ball for his team. Smith just missed out on a double-double of his own with his team-high 20 points and nine rebounds, shot 7-18 from the field, and was a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line, to go along with his two assists on the evening.

Now first-year head coach Troy Jackson and his 2-1 Penn State Scranton Lions men's basketball squad will look to stay red hot and capture their third straight win when they next host another non-conference foe in Bryant & Stratton-Albany this Friday night, with tip-off slated for a 7pm start time. Meanwhile, head coach Kirk Fallon and his 1-1 Lackawanna College Falcons will look to bounce back from this tough Election Day eve home defeat when they next go on the road to take on the Montgomery County Community College Mustangs this Wednesday night, with game time scheduled for 7pm.