Men’s Basketball Wrap Up Season in USCAA Tournament

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

UNIONTOWN, Pa. – The Penn State Mont Alto men's basketball team was upended in the USCAA National Tournament consolation game on Monday afternoon. They battled PSU Wilkes-Barre for the third time this season with Wilkes-Barre defeating PSUMA by a 79-65 score.

Inside the Box Score

• Penn State Mont Alto went cold from the field in the second half and finished with a 38.2% clip from the floor, while knocking down 3-of-21 attempts from 3-point range.
• Marcus Roper (Charles Town, W. Va. / Jefferson) netted 18 points, while John Teague (Hagerstown, Md. / North Hagerstown) finished with another double-double. The sophomore center scored 12 and collected 12 rebounds.
• The game featured 11 different lead changes and seven ties with Wilkes-Barre shooting 43.8% from the floor and 2-of-17 from downtown. Justin Sutton scored a season-high 24 points and 10 rebounds.
• Wilkes-Barre used its size in the post outrebounding Mont Alto by a 51-37 margin.

How it Happened

• Nathan Osei (Frederick, Md. / Frederick) knocked down a jumper to put PSUMA up 10-4 that forced a timeout at the 14:29 mark of the first half. Over the next seven minutes, PSUMA continued to add to its advantage with Marcus Roper (Charles Town, W. Va. / Jefferson) converting an old fashioned three-point play to put his team up 18-12.
• Another Roper layup made it 28-23 with a 1:43 left in the half as Mont Alto went into the break with a 30-29 lead.
• The teams traded the lead for the first six-plus minutes of the second half with a John Teague (Hagerstown, Md. / North Hagerstown) tip-in off an offensive rebound made it 40-39 in PSUMA's favor. With the score tied at 47 points apiece, Marcus Roper (Charles Town, W. Va. / Jefferson) knocked down a jumper to put the Nittany Lions up 53-49 with 10:25 remaining.
• Wilkes-Barre rattled off a 15-7 scoring spurt that concluded with a 2-pointer from Kevin Silverberg that forced a PSUMA timeout with 6:30 left. They maintained that lead and were up double digits (67-56) after a Silverberg layup.
• Second chance points especially from Justin Sutton down the stretch powered the No. 9 seed to the 76-65 win.

Mont Alto wraps up the 2019-20 season with a 24-6 overall record and won the PSUAC Championship. The 24-wins was a program best for head coach Jack Schenzel as Quintyn Flemister (Harrisburg, Pa. / Harrisburg) was named a Second Team All-American and JR Powe (Frederick, Md. / Thomas Johnson) was named to the Honorable Mention team at the banquet of the USCAA National Championships.