Scranton Lions Dominate Williamson

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

On Friday night, the hometown Penn State Scranton Lions men's basketball squad won their first round game of the annual Penn State Scranton Tip-Off Tournament in commanding fashion over non-conference foe Williamson by a 99-76 margin. With this impressive victory the Lions improve their overall record to 4-2 on the young hoops season.

The Lions from Scranton jumped out to a sizeable 11 point, 51-40, cushion when the first half of play's final buzzer sounded. In the contest's last 20-minutes, the Lions outscored their opponent by 12 points, 48-36, to stretch out their lead and ensure their dominant 23 point triumph by game's end.

Scranton had a quartet of players put up stellar double digit scoring performances in the battle, as freshman forward Mario Olivieri, freshman guard Zay Fowlks, senior guard Jaiden Wiggins, and junior guard Fhenyx Scutt set the pace offensively for their ball club. Olivieri notched a stalwart double-double with his game-high 24 points and 17 rebounds, shot a highly efficient 10-19 from the field, to go along with his trio of assists, and a steal to boot in his 32-minutes of action. Fowlks tallied a solid 20 points, went 4-8 from three point land, made all four of his shots from the charity stripe, grabbed four boards, four assists, and a pair of steals in his 26-minutes on the floor. Wiggins had 19 points on 6-14 shooting, went 2-4 from long distance range, nabbed a hat trick of rebounds, three assists, and added a steal for good measure in his 32-minutes of play. Last but certainly not least, Scutt put up 13 points, connecting on 4-8 of his shots from downtown, picked up five assists, three boards, and a trio of steals in 34-minutes on the court.

Meanwhile the road warriors from Williamson also had four players score in double figures on the evening, as Ronald Johnson, big man Semaj Cherry, Nadir Ali, and Robert Wiley led the way on the offensive side of the ball for their squad. Johnson scored a team-high 17 points on 6-11 shooting, making both of his shots from beyond the arc, went a near perfect 3-4 from the free throw line, collected eight rebounds, and three assists in his 30-minutes of playing time. Cherry just missed out on a double-double with his 15 points and eight boards, shot 4-10 from the floor, went 7-8 from the charity stripe, and had an assist in his quality 27-minutes. Ali came off the bench and in his 25-minutes of play provided a nice spark for his ball club, as he contributed 12 points, grabbed six rebounds, a couple of assists, and a steal. Finally, Wiley recorded 10 points on 4-9 shooting, went 2-4 from three point range, picked up five boards, and a quartet of assists in his 33-minutes on the court.

Now first-year head coach Troy Jackson Jr. and his red hot 4-2 Penn State Scranton Lions men's basketball team will look to continue their winning ways and capture the Tip-Off Tournament championship on Saturday afternoon at 4pm against the Bryant & Stratton-Syracuse Bobcats who knocked off Bucks County Community College by 31 points, 102-71, in their opening round contest. Meanwhile, Williamson will try to bounce back from this tough defeat when they face off against Bucks County Community College in the consolation tournament game on Saturday with tip-off time slated for a 1pm start.