ABINGTON, Pa. - Behind a smothering defensive effort and a balanced offensive attack, Penn State Harrisburg's men's basketball team rolled to a decisive 90-42 conference victory over United East foe Penn State Abington on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 25.
Isaiah Eggleston turned in the most-efficient performance of his career, scoring a game-high 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the field. Chris Henderson was the catalyst in the first half, finishing with 12 points. Nate Townsend and Irby Hunter provided the late-game firepower, adding 13 and 12 off the bench, respectively.
Henderson and Mason Pulliam had the hot hands to begin the game, with the former scoring seven and the latter adding five to give Penn State Harrisburg (12-7, 9-2 United East) a 14-4 lead in the early going. Eggleston got going late in the first half, scoring eight points in the final three minutes with a pair of dunks to balloon the advantage to 38-15 at the break.
While the offense got stronger as the half wore on, the Penn State Harrisburg defense locked down from the start, hold Penn State Abington (2-17, 1-9 United East) to just 4-of-19 shooting from the field in the opening half.
Eggleston was unstoppable to begin the second half, scoring 11 of the team's 15 points coming out of the locker room. Jordan Spencer added a layup and a put back and the visitors pulled ahead by 30 for the first time with 16:06 left to play. From the 14:24 mark to the 10:11 mark, Penn State Harrisburg put together an 11-0 run that included 3-balls from Irby Hunter and Lance Douglas and was capped by a pull-up jumper from Kevin Lucas Jr. to stretch the lead to 64-21 midway through the second half.
From there, the starters gave way to the bench and the reserves kept things rolling, with Townsend getting into the scoring act and Kyle Rhoden converting an alley-oop slam off a Townsend feed with 7:29 remaining. It was all Penn State Harrisburg down the stretch, with the visitors continuing the onslaught en route to more than doubling up Penn State Abington come the final buzzer.
NOTABLES
- Penn State Harrisburg shot a blistering 57.6 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from beyond the arc.
- Penn State Harrisburg held the hometown Lions to just 24 percent shooting from the field.
- The visitors outrebounded Penn State Abington 52-29.
- The Penn State Harrisburg bench outscored Penn State Abington's reserves 42-27.
- The visiting Lions scored 56 points in the paint and 24 points off turnovers.
- Eggleston scored a game-high 21 points on 90.9 percent shooting from the field in just 19 minutes of action.
- Henderson scored a dozen points to go along with four rebounds and three assists.
- Townsend and Hunter combined for 25 points and 10 boards off the bench.
- Spencer finished with seven points and six rebounds.
- Pulliam added seven points and four boards in a reserve role.
- Dylan Moore finished with a game-high seven rebounds.
WHO'S NEXT?
The Lions continue conference play when they host Gallaudet at the Capital Union Building on Tuesday night.
STAY CONNECTED
Fans can keep up with Penn State Harrisburg Athletics all season long on Instagram, Facebook, X, and Youtube using the handle @pshbgathletics.
