Men’s Hoops Snatches Playoff Spot In Impressive Way

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – Heat and efficiency allowed the Penn State Harrisburg men’s basketball team to a 96-68 win over conference opponents Gallaudet at the Union Capital Building on Saturday afternoon and clinch a post-season berth in the upcoming United East Championship Tournament.

Malik Holland had a career day, hitting eight 3-pointers en route to scoring a game-high 24 points. Nate Curry scored 19 points and Zegary Scott III completed one assist under a double-double with 10 points and nine helpers.

After the teams traded buckets to start the game, the Lions (13-10, 10-4 United East) used an 18-2 run in 5:26 that included 3 balls from Isaiah Eggleston and Scott to take control. game. Suddenly facing a 14-point deficit, Bison (1-22, 0-14 United East) tried to stay within striking distance but a Dutch triple and Curry’s layup extended Penn State Harrisburg’s lead to 29-10 at the 7:42 mark.

Curry and Lance Douglas hit back-to-back from off the line to hold on to the lead by a comfortable margin and Holland beat the first half buzzer with another trey from Douglas’ discovery to make it 46-24 heading into the break.

It was more of the same to start the second half, with Curry sinking a pair of jumpers from 3 points out to push the lead to 54-27 with 17:40 remaining. From there, Holland stepped forward and knocked down six straight 3-balls at multiple attempts over the span of six minutes to blow the door as the lead swelled to 78-51 with 8:49 left to play.

The Penn State Harrisburg bench kept rolling in stoppage time, with Robert Bobeck, Kobe Petrovich and Russell Nie all coming into the scoring before the final horn was blown.

RECORDED

– The Lions shoot 53.1 percent from beyond the line and 54.7 percent from the field.

– Penn State Harrisburg won the rebound battle 35-30.

– The Lions assisted on 29 of their 35 field goals.

– The home team scored 28 points from Gallaudet’s 16 turnovers.

– The Netherlands went 8-of-11 from beyond the line to score a career-high 24 points.

– Curry posted a game-high 19 points and six rebounds in just 19 minutes of action.

– Scott had a near double-double, finishing with a game-high 10 points and nine assists.

– Douglas has nine points and three assists.

– Chase Robinson has four points and five assists.

– Bobeck and Alex Leiba took down five boards each.

– Petrovich, Nie and Isaiah Milien each scored five points off the bench.

WHO’S NEXT?

The Lions welcome United’s East Penn College foes to the Capital Union Building for their final regular season contest on Tuesday night.

STAY CONNECTED

Fans can follow the Penn State Harrisburg Athletics throughout the season on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube using the handle @pshbgathletics.