Men's Basketball Rally Falls Short in Loss to NHTI in USCAA National Tournament

Men's Basketball Rally Falls Short in Loss to NHTI in USCAA National Tournament
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March 8, 2020
By: Frank Maira, Assistant Director of Athletics/Sports Information Director
 
UNIONTOWN, Pa. - The Penn State Mont Alto men's basketball team cut the deficit to just three points with 12 seconds remaining, but the rally came up short as they dropped a 76-70 decsion to NHTI on Sunday. The first round loss in the USCAA National Championships knocked the Lions into the consolation bracket where they will play Penn State Wilkes-Barre at 2 p.m. on Monday, March 9.
 
The Nittany Lions got off to a quick and good start with Quintyn Flemister (Harrisburg, Pa. / Harrisburg) splashing a 3-pointer as they built a 7-2 lead during the opening four minutes. NHTI got back into it and tied it up with an old fashioned 3-point play that was converted at the free throw line by J'Quavious Thurmond.
 
The Lynx knocked down back-to-back treys to go up 17-11 after Shaquille Barrett hit the second shot with 12:05 remaining in the half. They opened up a double digit lead up 22-11 before Nevaes Gordon (Frederick, Md. / Thomas Johnson) hit a shot in the post. Mont Alto really began feeding the post as a John Teague (Hagerstown, Md. / North Hagerstown) layup cut the deficit to three (24-21).
 
NHTI got hot again from downtown and built a 32-23 advantage with under four minutes left in the half. The final basket was Darrius Bush (Martinsburg, W.Va. / Spring Mills) knocking down a 3-pointer with Mont Alto going into the break trailing 32-27.
 
PSUMA cut the deficit to just a basket, but NHTI once again extended its lead with back-to-back 3-pointers to 40-31 with 16:27 left. Neither team saw its shots fall during the next six minute stretch with the Lynx still maintaining a 51-38 lead. Roper knocked down a trey to cut the deficit to 51-43. NHTI kept hitting its shots as they led 60-51 with under five minutes to go.
 
Mont Alto brought it back to 64-60 with a Cameron Williams (Inwood, W.Va. / Musselman) layup as they began to pick the pace up with two minutes remaining. Pressure defense also allowed the team to get back into it in the final minute of play. They knocked down a pair of 3-pointers including a Williams effort, but it turned out to be too little to late with NHTI hitting its free throws down the stretch.
 
Quintyn Flemister (Harrisburg, Pa. / Harrisburg) finished with a team-best 18 points and John Teague (Hagerstown, Md. / North Hagerstown) recorded a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Mont Alto shot 31.7% from the field compared to the Lynx who shot 47.5% and knocked down 8-of-25 attempts from downtown. Shaquille Barrett netted 18 points off the bench for NHTI who moves on to play the winner of No. 1 seed Johnson & Wales (NC) and the No. 8 seed Southern Maine Community College on Tuesday.
 
Mont Alto returns to action tomorrow afternoon in the consolation side of the USCAA National Championships and will take on Penn State Wilkes-Barre at 2 p.m.