MBB drops pair over the weekend

The Penn State Fayette men's basketball team opened up Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) play over the weekend with a pair of road games, and unfortunately the team dropped both.

Friday night, Fayette (4-4 overall, 0-2 PSUAC) fell at Penn State Schuylkill (3-6, 1-2), 78-68, before dropping a 78-67 contest at Penn State Hazleton (3-4, 2-1) Saturday.

In the game Friday night, Fayette held a 32-30 lead at halftime but was outscored 48-36 in the second half.

"Schuylkill shot the ball better than we did in the second half," said head coach Andy Hedrick. "For us to win, we have to shoot better than we did (Friday)."

Dom Boring (Lancaster, OH/Lancaster HS) led Fayette with 18 points while Mo Freeman (New Castle, DE/Salem Community College) recorded his first collegiate double-double as he finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.  Zo Morrow (Baltimore, MD/Parkville HS) provided a spark off the bench as he scored 10 points in only 13 minutes of action.  Dasilas Jones (Fairmont, WV/Fairmont HS) finished with nine points and nine rebounds while Tave Mozie (McClellandtown, PA/Albert Gallatin HS) scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds. 

Hedrick spoke about Morrow's effort saying, "Zo played well off the bench for us."

Schuylkill, who placed four players in double figures, shot 40 percent (30-75) for the game while Fayette shot 33.8 percent (27-80).  Both teams hit seven three-pointers with Fayette attempting 38 (18.4 percent) and Schuylkill putting 29 attempts (24.1 percent) up.  Fayette made seven of nine (77.8 percent) free throws while Schuylkill hit 11 of 21 (52.4 percent) attempts.

Fayette turned the ball over 13 times while Schuylkill turned it over 16 times with Fayette scoring 12 points off of Schuylkill's turnovers and the hosts scoring 17 points off of Fayette's miscues.  Schuylkill held a 44-38 advantage on points in the paint and in bench scoring (20-17).  Fayette's biggest lead was five points while its biggest deficit was 11 as the game had 10 ties and six lead changes.

In Saturday's defeat, Jones looked best with 20 points and eight rebounds.  Mozie and Justin Craigg (Newark, DE/Newark HS) each scored 10 points while Freeman and Matt Forbes (Verona, PA/Massabutten Military Academy) each added nine.  Hazleton's Andy Kwiatkowski led all scorers with 25 points.

"We played pretty well (Saturday)," Hedrick said. "We still need to find a way to make key stops when we need them."

Hazleton, which led 40-29 at the half, shot 52.9 percent (27-51) for the game while Fayette shot 40.6 percent (28-69).  Hazleton shot 38.1 percent (8-21) from long-distance while Fayette shot 21.4 percent (6-28) and the hosts also had the advantage at the free throw line as they were 16-20 (80 percent) while Fayette only went to the line nine times, making five (55.6 percent).

Fayette had the advantage in rebounds (38-33), points off of turnover (15-9), second chance points (14-7) and points in the paint (26-22).  Fayette only turned the ball over 10 times while Hazleton gave it away 14 times.

With more than a week before the next game, Hedrick spoke about what the team will work on.

"Over the break, the players will practice for four days," he said. "We will spend Monday and Tuesday of this week working on getting better in areas that we have been weak in.  Then after having four days off, we will return to prepare a couple days for (Penn State) Greater Allegheny."

Fayette hosts Greater Allegheny (2-5, 0-3) on November 30.  Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m.

For more information on the men's basketball team, go to https://www.psfathletics.com/sports/mbkb/index or follow us on Instagram @fayetteathletics.