No. 22 Salisbury 78, Penn State Harrisburg 65

Harrisburg Starters

Baylor-Carroll, Nelson, Scott, Alliyu, Williams

SU Starters

Davis, Roberson, Foley, Martin, Kumor

How It Happened

Despite hanging around for much of the contest, Penn State Harrisburg was unable to pull off the upset at No. 22 Salisbury in a battle of Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) foes, instead falling 78-65 on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 5.

The Lions (9-4, 1-1 CAC) were led by a tenacious effort from Donyae Baylor-Carroll. The freshman dropped a game-high 20 points against nationally-ranked SU (12-1, 2-0 CAC) to go along with seven rebounds. Keenan Wise was the only other Blue & White player to reach the double-digit scoring mark, burying four 3-pointers to rack up 12 points.

Penn State Harrisburg raced out to an 8-2 lead in the early going thanks to back-to-back 3-balls from Baylor-Carroll and a jump shot by Zegary Scott III before the Sea Gulls drew even for the first time at 10-10 at the 15:02 mark of the first half.

Baylor-Carroll netted 11 of the Lions' first 15 points, doing all he could to keep his team out in front. Salisbury eventually clawed back and a Mike Ward bucket from beyond the arc put the home team ahead for the first time with 13:18 left before halftime.

SU led by as many as 10 points late in the first half but the Blue & White put together a late 8-0 run capped by a pair of Baylor-Carroll free throws to close to within 38-36 with 2:04 left before the break. A 6-1 spurt of their own in the final seconds, however, gave the Sea Gulls some breathing room at halftime.

A Wise triple drew the visitors to within two points little more than three minutes into the second half but a cold shooting spell hurt Penn State Harrisburg over the ensuing seven minutes, with the Lions unable to convert a field goal until Bradley DaBella knocked down a trey with 10:01 left to play.

The Blue & White offensive struggles allowed Salisbury to push its advantage to 59-44 and despite the Lions closing the deficit to a more-manageable 10 points on two separate occasions, the hole proved too large for the visitors to climb out of down the stretch.

Inside the Numbers

- Penn State Harrisburg struggled from the field, posting just a 33.3 percent shooting clip from the floor.

- The Sea Gulls, on the other hand, racked up a 49.1 percent clip from the field.

- Harrisburg did shoot a solid 47.4 percent from 3-point territory and 80 percent from the charity stripe.

- The rebounding battle was even at 32-32.

- Salisbury scored 40 points in the paint, compared to just 14 for the Blue & White.

- Both teams were sloppy with the ball, combining to turn it over 40 times.

- Donyae Baylor- Carroll had one of his best offensive games of his young career, scoring a game-high 20 points on 3-of-6 shooting and 12-of-13 shooting from the foul line.

- The hot shooting continued for Keenan Wise, as he went 4-of-6 from 3-point territory to post 12 tallies.

- Gbolahan Allliyu pulled in a game-best nine rebounds to go along with a pair of blocks.

- Kahlil Williams tallied eight points, three boards and three assists, while Bradley DaBella added seven points off the bench.

- Zegary Scott III had three assists to go along with five points and Pedro Rodriguez chipped in with four rebounds and three points in a reserve role.

- Lucas Martin led the way for Salisbury with 17 points and eight boards.

Who's Next?

The Lions will look to bounce back when they host local foe York (Pa.) for another conference tilt on Wednesday night, Jan. 9.

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