MIDDLETOWN, PA - The Penn State Harrisburg men´s basketball team collected their third win on the season in exciting style with a 64-59 home victory against Keuka College on Saturday afternoon. Coming off their victory, the Nittany Lions faced off against SUNY-IT Sunday afternoon in which they fell 79-67. The Nittany Lions improve to 3-5 overall as they split their weekend contests. The Keuka Storm drop to 2-2 overall while the SUNY-IT Wildcats improve to 5-2 overall. In Saturday´s matchup the Lions jumped on Keuka early, leading the Storm 13-8 in the first five minutes of the game. The two teams traded baskets as the game was still in favor of the blue and white with just over six minutes left to play in the first half. Nittany Lion turnovers and good shooting by Keuka College guard, Peter Durr, pulled the Storm within one. After a Shane Woodman (Donegal/Mt. Joy, PA) jump shot putting the Nittany Lions back up by three, the ball game saw five ties and seven lead changes before halftime. The Nittany Lions maintained the lead heading into the half with a 29-27 edge over the Storm.

The second half picked up where the first half left off with both teams struggling to pull away by more than five points from each other. With 5:27 remaining, freshman forward Kenton Alston´s (Steelton-Highspire/Steelton, PA) layup tied the contest for the 10th time. Over the next 4:21 minutes, Keuka was 0-for-4 from the field and 1-for-6 from the charity stripe forcing them to foul the blue and white. Freshman guard,Rhett Sheibley (Northern/Dillsburg, PA) made two huge free throws with 1:06 remaining putting the Lions up by seven. Even though the Storm went 3-for-5 from the field with two made free throws, the blue and white were able to hold off Keuka, shooting 7-for-12 from the foul line to ensure the victory.

The Nittany Lions were led by Alston as he poured in 16 points in just 27 minutes of action. He was 7-for-16 from the field including 2-for-4 from the charity stripe. Alston also pulled in nine rebounds, while dishing three assists and blocking five of the Storm´s shots. Junior guard Cole McGuire (Susquenita/Duncannon, PA) tallied 14 points, ten of which came from the foul line, with three assists, and one steal. Woodman chipped in with 10 points, four rebounds, and one steal. Sophomore Brian Barry (Annville-Cleona/Annville, PA) added 8 points, eleven rebounds and two blocks.

The Storm had four players in double-digits led by Durr, who scored 17 points, two coming from behind the arc. Justin Stern added 14 points, eight coming from the foul line. Garret Herthum chipped in with 10 points, six rebounds and three assist. Josh Robinson tallied 10 points and five rebounds. Diamond Booker had game high 17 rebounds.

In Sunday´s matchup the game did not start well for the blue and white with SUNY-IT jumping out to an eight point lead with just over two minutes into the game. The Nittany Lions slowly began to cut into the Wildcats lead coming within one off the Cole McGuire three pointer with 11:23 remaining. Poor shooting from the Lions and strong offensive rebounding by the Wildcats quickly put them back up by seven with just over nine minutes to go in the first half. The blue and white bounced back with a 10-1 run led by McGuire putting the Nittany Lions up by two. Just before halftime, three Penn State Harrisburg turnovers led to the 33-30 lead by SUNY-IT.

It was a different story in the second half with SUNY-IT shooting 48.3 percent from the field and hitting six from downtown while the blue and white shot only 29.4 percent from the field while hitting five from behind the arc. With 12:29 remaining, Shane Woodman´s three pointers put Penn State Harrisburg within one but soon after SUNY-IT went on a 13-2 run and never let the Lions pull within nine to grab the victory.

Ajani Edwards powered the Wildcats to victory as he recorded a double-double with 22 points and 10 assists. Edwards was also 9-for-15 from the floor, with six steals and five rebounds. David Golembiowski chipped in with 21 points, 5-for-11 from beyond the arc, with fourteen rebounds. SUNY-IT shot 44.3 percent from the floor in the contest including 32.1 percent (9-for-28) from three. The Wildcats were a chilly 16-for-30 (53.3 percent) from the charity stripe.

The Nittany Lions were led by freshman Jason Kuch (Cocalico/Denver, PA) with 16 points, five rebounds and four assists. Woodman recorded 14 points, shooting 5-for-12 from the field (4-for-8 from the three) and two assists. Alston was the third Lion in double figures as he had 14 points and nine rebounds. Penn State Harrisburg struggled from the field as they went 21-for-63 for the game but an impressive 7-for-18 from beyond the arc. The Nittany Lions shot well from the free throw line going 18-for-21.

The Nittany Lions return to action Wednesday evening as they travel to Valley Forge Christian College. Game time is set for 7:00 P.M.