Scranton Lions Basketball Falls to Mont Alto

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

On a Wednesday night road conference battle, the Penn State Scranton men's basketball squad dropped a tough 63-50 decision to Penn State Mont Alto. With the loss, Scranton sees their overall record go to 4-11 and 1-9 in the all-important league play schedule.

In the game's first half, Mont Alto jumped out to a big 15 point, 36-21, advantage over Scranton heading into the break in the action. However, in the game's final 20 minutes, the road warrior Lions from Scranton roared back and actually outscored their opponent 29-27 to show some nice grit and resiliency. In the end, however, Mont Alto would seize their 13 point home victory when the contest's final whistle blew.

Scranton was led on offense by two of their players who put up stand-out double digit performances, as senior forward Justin Craigg and sophomore guard Jaiden Wiggins set the pace. Craigg scored a game-high 19 points on a solid 7-15 shooting from the field and a red hot 4-7 from beyond the arc, to go along with his two rebounds, and two steals in his stalwart 35 minutes on the court. Wiggins also put up a quality game, as he tallied 11 points on an efficient 4-8 shooting from the field and made one of his two attempts from three point land, to go along with his seven boards, two assists, and a steal in his 28 minutes of work.

Meanwhile on the Mont Alto side of things, they were led on offense by two of their players who scored in double figures on the day, as the dynamic duo of senior guards Nathan Osei and Cameron Williams would not be denied. Osei scored a team-high 14 points on 6-9 shooting from the field and connected on 2-5 of his three point tries, to go along with his five rebounds, two assists, two steals on defense, and a block to boot in his stellar 29 minutes of play. Last but certainly not least, Williams had a terrific well-rounded game with his 14 points on 6-11 shooting from the field and 1-4 shooting from beyond the arc, to go along with his eight boards, eight assists, five steals, and a block in his 33 minutes on the floor.

Now head coach Chris Sload and his Penn State Scranton men's basketball squad will look to snap their nine game losing streak in their next ball game, when they host conference rival Penn State Lehigh Valley this upcoming Saturday afternoon, with tip-off scheduled for 3pm. Meanwhile, head coach Jack Schenzel and his Penn State Mont Alto ball club, who with their win over Scranton improved their overall record to 10-6 and 6-4 in the crucial league play, will look to continue their winning ways when they travel on the road to take on conference foe Penn State Shenango this Saturday at 4pm.