MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – The visitors from Salisbury used a flurry of key three-pointers to keep Penn State Harrisburg at arm's length and defeat the Lions 64-51 on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 4. The Seagulls knocked down 11 buckets from beyond the arc, including a handful of timely jumpers that kept the Blue & White from making the run they needed in the second half.
The Lions were led by senior captain Kenny Stone (Philadelphia, Pa. / Scotland). The physical forward netted a team-high 17 points on 50 percent shooting from the field and grabbed five rebounds.
Penn State Harrisburg led on just three occasions, all of which came in the first half. A Jared Deibler (Middletown, Pa. / Middletown Area) three-point play and two baskets by freshman Marquese Daniels (Philadelphia, Pa. / Philadelphia Electric & Technology Charter) put the Lions up at the 14:49, 11:12 and 8:49 marks. Unfortunately, the Lions were left playing catch-up the rest of the day.
The visitors took their largest lead of the half when Kyle Savercool connected from distance to make it 24-16 with 5:16 remaining before the break but the Lions closed out the opening period on a 9-4 run that culminated in a Deibler layup as time expired, bringing the deficit to 28-25 at halftime.
Stone pulled Penn State Harrisburg to within to at 31-29 when he knocked down a pair of free throws with 17:47 left to play.
Still trailing by two with less than 14 minutes remaining in regulation, the Blue & White got their first taste of Salisbury's clutch shooting when Charles Porter buried back-to-back three balls to up the Seagulls' advantage to 41-33.
A pair of Will Doyle (Franklin, Va. / Tidewater Academy) free throws drew the Lions to within five but Porter again came up big when he knocked down his third three-pointer in less than four minutes to thwart Penn State Harrisburg's push.
Sophomore Jamaal Dubose (Bowie, Md. / Bowie) went 1-2 from the charity stripe to draw the Lions within six but Salisbury struck again when Charlie Rogers buried two consecutive jumpers from downtown to make it 55-43 Seagulls with 7:17 remaining.
It was a deficit Penn State Harrisburg was unable to overcome.
Doyle scored eight points on five shots and dished out three assists. Deibler added seven tallies in just nine minutes of play. Daniels netted six and junior Joey Farthing (Lancaster, Pa. / Hempfield) pulled in a team-high six rebounds to go along with three assists and two steals.
Salisbury outshot the Lions 48.6 percent to 37.2 percent from the field. Penn State Harrisburg was unable to keep up with the Seagulls from three point territory or the free throw line. Compared to the visitors' 45.8 percent shooting from distance, the Blue & White went just 3-13 from beyond the arc. The Lions got to the foul line 29 times but converted just 16 chances.
The loss dropped Penn State Harrisburg to 5-6 on the year and was just the team's second defeat in Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) play. The Lions will look to bounce back when they travel to Southern Virginia for another league matchup on Wednesday night, Jan. 8.
Follow us on Twitter - @PSHbgAthletics
Follow us on Facebook – group name PSHathletics