Penn State Harrisburg 70, Southern Virginia 57

Harrisburg Starters

Baylor-Carroll, Nelson, Scott, Alliyu, Bing

SVU Starters

Davis, Cross, Dill, Candland, Johnson

How It Happened

Penn State Harrisburg impressed down the stretch en route to a 70-57 victory over a stingy Southern Virginia squad in the team's Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) opener at the Capital Union Building on Wednesday night, Jan. 2.

Keenan Wise came to play, knocking down six 3-pointers and pouring in a career-high 22 points on 80 percent shooting from the floor. Gbolahan Alliyu was also strong, scoring 11 and adding seven rebounds, four blocks and three steals, while Kahlil Williams was the third Harrisburg player to reach the double-digit scoring mark with 10 off the bench.

Trailing 39-38 midway through the second half, the Lions (9-3, 1-0 CAC) used a baseline jumper from Alliyu and an old-fashioned 3-point play from Brandon Coleman to pull back in front and retake a lead they wouldn't surrender the rest of the way.

Free throws from Donyae Baylor-Carroll and Williams pushed the Blue & White advantage to 53-46 before a Jaron Anderson 3-pointer brought the Knights (4-8, 0-1 CAC) to within four with 5:40 left to play but a Baylor-Carroll jumper from beyond the arc on the home team's next possession halted the Southern Virginia comeback effort.

Wise put on a show from distance in the closing minutes, burying back-to-back 3-balls to stretch Penn State Harrisburg's lead to a more comfortable 62-49 with 4:41 remaining. Another Wise triple, this time with 1:47 left, gave the Lions their largest lead of the night at 15 before a thunderous one-handed slam from Alliyu off a Wise feed put an exclamation point on the win.

With the game tied 10-10 in the early going, the Blue & White looked poised to run away with things following a 12-0 run capped by Wise's second 3-pointer of the contest at the 5:58 mark of the first half. From there, the Lions went ice cold from the floor, allowing the Knights to close out the half on a 12-0 run of their own and draw even heading into the break.

Inside the Numbers

- The Lions shot 44.6 percent from the field, including a strong 53.8 percent from 3-point territory.

- The Knights managed just 32.3 percent shooting from the floor and 32.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

- Southern Virginia finished with a slim 41-37 advantage on the glass.

- Penn State Harrisburg assisted on 21 of its 25 made field goals.

- The Blue & White scored 19 points off SVU turnovers.

- The Harrisburg bench outscored the Knights' reserves 38-28.

- Keenan Wise was stellar, scoring a game-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and 6-of-7 shooting from distance.

- Gbolahan Alliyu imposed his will on the block, posting 11 points, seven rebounds, four blocks, three steals and two assists.

- Kahlil Williams netted 10 points to go along with a pair of rebounds and two steals off the bench.

- Zegary Scott III added eight points, an assist and a steal.

- Ibn-Haneef Nelson dished out a game-high eight assists, while Donyae Baylor-Caroll recorded six assists to go along with five points and three steals.

- Chris Bing pulled down six boards and scored six points.

- Jaron Anderson led the way for Southern Virginia with a team-best 17 points.

Who's Next?

The Lions face a tough test when they travel to take on one of the conference's top teams in No. 22 Salisbury on Saturday afternoon.

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