MIDDLETOWN, Pa. - Penn State Harrisburg's men's basketball team jumped out to a big lead and never looked back in a decisive 86-56 victory over conference foe Gallaudet at the Capital Union Building on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 2.
The team's balanced attack was led by Alex Leiba's 11 points, while Donyae Baylor-Carroll, Nate Curry, and Lance Douglas added 10 points apiece in limited action. Baylor-Carroll moved into second place on the program's all-time scoring list, the team set a new single-game program record with 31 assists, and all 17 players saw in action in the win.
The Lions (7-1, 2-0 United East) raced out to an 11-0 lead thanks to five points from Curry, four from Douglas, and a layup from Leiba at the 16:24 mark. The advantage ballooned to 28-9 midway through the opening half when Malik Holland knocked down a 3-ball off a Baylor-Carroll feed with 10:19 left before the break.
Gallaudet (0-9, 0-2 United East) cut the deficit to a more manageable 12 late in the half before a pair of Isaiah Eggleston free throws at the 1:15 mark gave the home team a 39-25 lead heading into the locker room.
Douglas opened the second half with another triple before an electric stretch that included a Curry trifecta, a Leiba rejection of Alex Antsiferov, and a Leiba two-handed jam off a strike from Chase Robinson made it 49-27 with 17:54 left to play. Baylor-Carroll buried back-to-back 3-balls and Leiba added another layup to stretch the advantage to 28 with 13:56 remaining.
The starters gave way to the bench midway through the second half and the reserves kept things rolling thanks to buckets from Isaiah Milien, Dylan Moore, and Kyle Rhoden that made it 74-50 at the 4:43 mark. Irby Hunter, Christian Clark-Stokes, and Malachi Thomas got into the scoring act by pushing the lead to 30 in the closing seconds.
NOTABLES
- The Lions set a new single-game program record with 31 assists.
- The 30-point victory is the team's largest of the season.
- Penn State Harrisburg shot a stellar 50 percent (14-of-28) from beyond the arc.
- The Lions shot 54.1 percent from the field, while the Bison managed just 39.1 percent shooting from the floor.
- Gallaudet struggled from 3-point range, shooting just 26.1 percent (6-of-23).
- Penn State Harrisburg's bench outscored the Bison reserves 45-22.
- Leiba scored a team-high 11 points and grabbed four rebounds.
- Baylor-Carroll netted 10 to move into second place on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,544 career points. He added five assists, three steals, and three boards.
- Curry was 2-for-2 from distance and finished with 10 points and three assists.
- Douglas scored 10 points on 50 percent shooting and corralled four rebounds.
- Chase Robinson dished out a game-high six assists.
- Jayson Fain provided a spark off the bench with seven points, four boards, and three assists.
WHO'S NEXT?
The Lions travel to New York City for a non-conference matchup at CCNY on Monday night.
STAY CONNECTED
Fans can keep up with Penn State Harrisburg Athletics all season long on Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Threads, and Youtube using the handle @pshbgathletics.