Tough Defense Vaults Mont Alto Men’s Basketball to PSUAC Semifinals

By: Frank Maira, Assistant Director of Athletics/Sports Information Director

MONT ALTO, Pa. – The Penn State Mont Alto men's basketball team cruised to a 79-58 win in Tuesday's PSUAC Quarterfinals matchup with PSU Beaver. With the win, Mont Alto will now host Penn State Wilkes-Barre, the No. 2 seed in the East division on Friday.

Inside the Box Score

• Mont Alto relied on the inside and outside combination of JR Powe (Frederick, Md. / Thomas Johnson) and Quintyn Flemister (Harrisburg, Pa. / Harrisburg). Powe finished with his third-straight double-double with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds. Flemister was equally productive chipping in 19 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
• PSUMA played suffocating defense in the first half holding PSU Beaver to just 15 points. The visitors shot 22.7% from the field within the half and finished the game shooting a 34.5% clip.
• Mont Alto also capitalized on Beaver's miscues, while shooting 43.7% from the field and connected on 6-of-21 attempts from downtown.
• John Foster heated up in the second half for Beaver and finished with 21 points.

How it Happened

• Both teams came out of the gate playing with nerves, but Mont Alto established itself and built a 16-2 lead after a Nathan Osei (Frederick, Md. / Frederick) layup. They continued the strong stretch of play by going up 31-7 after a Quintyn Flemister (Harrisburg, Pa. / Harrisburg) 3-pointer with 4:16 left in the half.
• The visitors finally showed signs of life closing the final minutes on an 8-4 run and went into the intermission trailing 35-15. Beaver scored the first four points of the second half, before another Flemister trey halted all momentum and had his team up 38-19.
• Mont Alto built a 32-point cushion at 62-30 with 11:37 left on a fast break layup courtesy of Nathan Osei (Frederick, Md. / Frederick). PSUMA were in cruise control down the stretch and held on for the 79-58 win.

As the top seed in the PSUAC West, Mont Alto hosts the PSUAC Semifinals matchup against Wilkes-Barre on Friday at 8 p.m.

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