Offense stalls as Lions fall to York 85-53

York , Pa. - Seeking their second straight Penn State University Athletic Conference victory this week, the Nittany Lions failed to keep pace with the high powered Penn State York (7-1, 5-0 PSUAC) offense on Friday night as Hazleton fell on the road 85-53. 

York was red hot from beyond the arc, connecting on nine of 21 attempts from long range and out-rebounded the Nittany Lions by a margin of 15 leading to 24 second chance points as they cruised to a wire to wire victory. Hazleton suffered a season low 28.8 shooting percentage from the field, hitting just two of 22 shots from three point territory as they sought to equalize the offensive output of the home squad.

Top Performers

Junior Jordan Singletary (Houston, Tx.) led the Nittany Lions for the second straight outing, putting up his sixth double-double of the season as he went for 16 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks in Friday night's defeat. Senior Dwayne Richardson (Richmond, Va.) also topped double-digits for Hazleton, adding 12 points on five of 13 shooting from the field.

York's Trent Thomas topped all scorers on the evening, notching 28 points as he shot 66 percent from the field. Thomas converted five triples to lead the York offense and pulled in seven rebounds in the winning effort. Richard Grant added 14 points and six rebounds while Lucas Jewell filled the box score with a pair of triples, five rebounds and a game high nine assists. 

1st Half

Trent Thomas started off the game on fire, sinking a pair of triples as York pulled ahead for a 12-2 advantage in the first 3:30 of play. Singletary and sophomore Jacob Solano (Bethlehem, Pa.) combined for four field goals over the next two minutes of action, cutting the deficit to five points at 16-11, but that's as close as the Lions would get in this one. York limited Hazleton to just three Singletary free throws over the next four minutes to grow their lead back to double digits, and maintained that advantage through the remainder of the half. York used six long range makes in the period and a combined 28 first half points from Thomas and Grant to carry a 45-31 cushion into the break. 

2nd Half

Just as the game began, Trent Thomas came out shooting from long range, connecting on a pair of jumpers to lead York on a 10-2 run to start the second half. The Lions attempted to get back in contention, firing 11 shots from beyond the arc, but failed to find the bottom of net as they gave chase. York methodically expanded their lead over the Lions throughout the half getting 19 second half points off the bench as they continued to pull away from Hazleton and cruised to the final horn for the 85-53 win.

Next Up

Hazleton heads into the winter recess on a loss, but maintains a winning record in conference play, right in the thick of things in a four way tie for third place in the PSUAC. Hazleton will resume play in January of 2017 when Penn State Fayette visits the Dr. Thomas M. Caccese Gymnasium for a Friday the 13th matchup at 8:00 p.m.