CAMDEN, N.J. (Nov. 13, 2018) – The Penn State-Schuylkill men's basketball team spoiled a torrid comeback by Rutgers University-Camden here Tuesday and hung on to defeat the Scarlet Raptors, 71-66, in a non-conference game.
The Scarlet Raptors, who trailed by as many as 12 points late in the first half (30-18), went on a 25-5 run from the end of the first half until five minutes into the second half, forging into a 43-35 lead. The Nittany Lions recovered from that shock and battled back to tie the game at 46-46, the first of three ties down the stretch.
With the score knotted at 60-60, Penn State's William Santiago drained a three-pointer with 3:23 remaining to put the Nittany Lions ahead to stay.
The victory was the first of the season for Penn State-Schuylkill, which improves to 1-2. Rutgers-Camden falls to 0-2.
With sophomore guard
Kyle Goodson Jr. scoring four points and freshman guard
Adam Perry adding three, the Scarlet Raptors went on a 9-2 run to close the final 2:22 of the opening half, cutting their 12-point deficit to 32-27 at the break. They came out strong in the second half, notching the first 13 points to surge into a 40-32 lead. That run was sparked by six points from senior forward
Chin Akwarandu and four from senior guard
Trai Greer.
Penn State-Schuylkill answered with a 14-6 run to tie the game at 46-46. Price Szeliga led the charge with eight points in that stretch, including a pair of three-pointers.
After the teams battled to a 60-60 deadlock, the Nittany Lions out-scored the Scarlet Raptors, 11-6 the rest of the way. Santiago, who had the go-ahead trey, scored five of PSU-Schuylkill's final 11 points.
Szeliga paced the Nittany Lions with 21 points, while Lamonttea Brown added 16. Santiago finished with nine points, while Jonathan Smith collected a game-high 11 rebounds.
Goodson Jr. notched a game-high seven assists to go along with his 14 points. Greer finished with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Perry canned 13 points. Akwarandu added eight points and nine boards.
Rutgers-Camden shot 26-for-64 (40.6 percent) from the floor, while PSU-Schuylkill was 25-for-58 (43.1). The Nittany Lions held a 40-36 edge off the boards.
Rutgers-Camden plays a 7 p.m. game at Cairn University Friday.
