Scranton Lions Dominate at Home

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

DUNMORE, Pa. - On a Tuesday night in the electric city, the hometown Penn State Scranton Lions men's basketball squad led throughout in their commanding 14 point, 75-61, impressive victory over conference rival Penn State Lehigh Valley. With this triumph, Scranton is now on a mini two game winning streak and improves their overall record to a solid 6-3 and a perfect 2-0 in the all-important league play schedule.

The Lions from Scranton started off red hot and raced out to a lightning quick 10 point, 34-24, sizeable advantage at the half-time break in the action. In the contest's final 20-minutes of play, the road warriors from Lehigh Valley played tough and were only outscored by a mere four points, 41-37, before eventually falling short, as Scranton captured the dominant 14 point win by game's end.

Scranton was led on the offensive attack by the three headed monster of freshman forward Mario Olivieri, fellow freshman Zay Fowlks, and senior sharp shooting guard Xavier Noble who all put up stellar double digit scoring performances in the battle. Olivieri came off the bench and provided a nice spark for his ball club in his high quality 32-minutes of action, as he tallied a game-high 23 points on a very efficient 8-13 shooting from the field, went a near flawless 7-8 from the charity stripe, grabbed four rebounds, a pair of assists, and added a steal to boot. Fowlks just missed out on a double-double with his 20 points and nine boards, shot 3-8 from three point land, was 7-8 from the free throw line, dished out a trio of assists, a hat trick of steals, and blocked two shots for good measure in his 35-minutes on the court. Last but certainly not least, Noble contributed with 13 points, sunk in three of his shots from long distance range, and collected two rebounds in his 27-minutes of play.

Meanwhile, Lehigh Valley also had three players tally double digit scoring outings, as sophomore guard Kyle John, junior forward CJ Santos, and freshman forward Ziego Goodman set the pace for their ball club. John led the way with his team-high 15 points on 6-15 shooting, went 3-9 from downtown, nabbed six boards, an assist, and a block in his 29-minutes on the floor. Santos recorded a near double-double with his stalwart 13 points and nine rebounds, and shot a lethal 6-9 from the field in his 29-minutes of playing time. Finally, Goodman also put up 13 points, as he went 6-14 from the floor, made a three pointer, picked up seven boards, and had an assist in his 33-minutes of game action.

Now first-year head coach Troy Jackson Jr. and his 6-3 Penn State Scranton Lions men's basketball team will look to continue their victorious ways and improve their win streak to three straight games in crucial league play when they next host conference foe Penn State New Kensington this Friday night, with tip-off slated for an 8pm prime time start. Meanwhile, head coach Kyle Mills and his 0-9 Penn State Lehigh Valley men's hoops squad will look to bounce back and snap their nine game losing streak and capture their first win of the season when they next host conference rival Penn State Beaver this Friday evening at 8pm.