Men’s Basketball Opens Weekend at Cincinnati-Clermont

McKeesport, Pa. – After dropping their first game of the season to Clarion on Wednesday, the Penn State Greater Allegheny Men’s Basketball Team (4-1, 0-0) opens up the weekend with their second road game of the season when they battle Cincinnati-Clermont at 7:30 p.m. It will be the second of eight straight road games for the Men’s Basketball Team over the next month and a half.

PSUGA fought to the bitter end their last time out, nearly scoring a comeback victory, against Clarion when they fell 109-93. They would cut the deficit to as little as six points as Jordon Payne (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) hit two big three-pointers with seven minutes to go. However, it would be the team’s 19 turnovers that ultimately led to their demise and allowed Clarion to pull out ahead for good.

Jordon Payne keeps improving from game to game scoring a season high 30 points on the day. Payne has now scored 20 or more points in three straight games and has scored 17 or more points in all five games this season. Curtis Newby (Sharon, Pa./Sharon HS) an George Prota (Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth Forward) also finished in double digits on the day with 13 and 12 points respectively.

Curtis Newby was also able to pick up his third double-double of the season in five games as he collected 11 rebounds in the game. Khari Hicks (East Hills, Pa./Imani Christian Academy) continued picking up his assists leading the team with five on the day.  Hicks is currently second in all of the Penn State University Athletic Conference with 8.0 rebounds per game.

PSUGA now looks forward to the weekend as they will look to get back in the win column after having a program best four-game winning streak to start the season snapped. They will get the opportunity to bounce back right away as they play the first of two games this weekend when they battle Cincinnati-Clermont on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Cincinnati-Clermont is coming off of a win over Boyce College on Tuesday when they scored over 100 points winning 102-92. UCC has split their first four games of the season and so far are averaging 85.0 PPG while giving up 86.3 PPG.

These two teams faced off for the first time ever last season and PSUGA picked up an 86-62 win. It will be their second ever matchup as PSUGA looks to keep the offense going and make it two wins in a row against UCC.

Friday’s matchup begins at 7:30 p.m. following the Women’s Matchup. The Men will wrap up the weekend on Saturday when they battle Southern State CC at 3 p.m.