Fayette's valiant second-half rally falls short against #1 York

LEMONT FURNACE, Pa. – Top-ranked Penn State York (15-0, 11-0) used a 10-0 run to start the game as a spring board en route to a hard-fought 84-75 win over host Penn State Fayette (8-10, 7-3) at the Community Center's Main Arena Saturday.

Trailing by 17 at the half, the Roaring Lions cut into the York lead several times in the second half.  Down by just four with two minutes to play, the Roaring Lions took a defensive stand for 34 seconds of the shot clock before Penn State York's Logan Steckel nailed a 30-foot 3-point shot to widen the margin.  

A sluggish start and an off-shooting day gave the Roaring Lions their first PSUAC loss since Dec. 18, when against Penn State Beaver – the nation's top-ranked team at that time.

 "Playing three games in four days is tough, but everyone in the conference does it.  We (the coaching staff) explained to our guys that during the course of a 30 game season, we'll have the kind of nights where we can't seem to get into sync," said Roaring Lions' Head Coach Mookie John.  "We give credit where credit it due, and York played an outstanding game, and they're number one for a reason.  We also want to credit our guys for playing for 40 minutes and having the courage to battle back from such a deficit," added John.

Junior forward Matt McKenna (Pittsburgh, Pa.) led all Roaring Lion scorers with 24 points and seven rebounds in the losing effort.  Following McKenna were sophomore guards Luke Williams (Maui, Hawaii) and Spencer Perieff (Lahaina, Hawaii), who totaled 20 and 12 respectively.  Williams also pulled down 7 rebounds, while Perieff collected five.  Perieff went 6-7 from the field, including two three-pointers during the Lions' second half run.

Freshman point guard Dominck Jackson (Minneapolis, Minn.) gave the Lions quality minutes in the second half, creating havoc for the York ball-handlers.  Jackson tallied three steals, three rebounds, and four points in the effort.

Three point shooting proved to be the difference, as York drained 36% of their shots from behind the arc compared to a dismal 23 percent for the Lions. 

The Roaring Lions are back in action Friday and Saturday when they travel north to play Penn State Hazleton on Friday (8:00 p.m. tip) and Penn State Wilkes Barre on Saturday (3:00 p.m. tip).