Scranton Lions Basketball Dominates in Home Opening Victory

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

DUNMORE, Pa. - In a Saturday afternoon matinee, the Penn State Scranton Lions men's basketball team overpowered visiting Vaughn College with an impressive 39 point, 97-58, win in their home opener. With this triumph, the Lions from Scranton evened up their overall record at 1-1 on the young 2023-2024 hoops campaign after falling on the road to Lehigh Carbon Community College this past Wednesday evening in a hard fought 74-65 defeat in their season debut.

Scranton took control early and outscored their opponent by 25 points, 54-29, in the first half of play and never looked back. In the contest's final 20-minutes, the Lions had a 43-29 advantage and cruised to their commanding 39 point victory.

The hometown Lions had a stellar five players put up double digit performances on the day, as sophomore guard Gary Natale Jr., junior big man Marcus Delesline, senior Macio Robinson, junior Jaiden Wiggins, and freshman Derek Porter set the pace for their ball club. Natale Jr. came off the bench and provided a huge spark for his squad in just 10-minutes of action on the court, scoring a game-high 21 points, all coming from his electrifying seven shots he made from beyond the arc, to go along with a pair of rebounds, and an assist. Delesline notched a double-double with his stalwart 19 points and 10 boards, shot a highly efficient 9-15 from the field, including making his only attempt from three point land, to go along with his trio of assists, and a steal. Robinson tallied 15 points on 6-12 shooting from the floor, including connecting on a hat trick of shots from downtown, to go along with a rebound, an assist, and a steal. Wiggins put up 13 points, made a three pointer, had a quartet of boards, four assists, and had a highly stingy seven steals on defense. Last but certainly not least, Porter came off the bench and was rock solid in his 10 minutes of play, recording 10 points on a quality 5-9 shooting from the field, had a couple of rebounds, and an assist on the day.

Meanwhile, head coach Jihad Ceaser and his road warriors from Vaughn College had a pair of players tally double figure scoring performances, as sophomore guard Ean Chambers and junior Geremy Urena led the way for their ball club. Chambers scored a team-high 19 points, fired in 2-5 shots from beyond the arc, was a near perfect 9-10 from the charity stripe, to go along with his trio of boards, and two steals in his 23-minutes of game action. Finally, Urena came off the bench and provided a nice spark in his 21-minutes of play, putting up 13 points on 5-11 shooting from the floor, made a three pointer, had four rebounds, and an assist in the contest.

After clinching his first ever collegiate win as the new head coach of Penn State Scranton Lions men's basketball, Michael Foder will next lead his 1-1 squad on a road trip to nearby Nanticoke, Pennsylvania to take on head coach Ron Strothers' Luzerne County Community College Trailblazers this upcoming Monday night, with a scheduled tip-off for 7pm.