BALTIMORE - Penn State Harrisburg's men's basketball team held off Notre Dame (Md.) in a 70-65 conference victory to remain undefeated in United East play on Tuesday night, Jan. 13.
Dylan Moore led the way with a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds, while Jordan Spencer finished two boards shy of a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. Elija Eccleston provided the spark off the bench with 15 points and Chris Henderson Jr. was the fourth player to reach double figures with a dozen points.
After leading by as many as 10 points with 12:52 to play following Moore's old-fashioned 3-point play, the Lions (10-7, 6-0 United East) watched as the Gators (10-8, 3-1 United East) put together a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to two at the 10:53 mark.
Penn State Harrisburg answered with a run of its own and used a 10-3 spurt capped by a Henderson old-fashioned 3-point to stretch the lead back to nine with 7:56 remaining. The home team pulled back to within three in the ensuing minute and a half but fastbreak layups from Eccleston and Spencer kept the Gators at bay.
The Lions locked down defensively and got a pair of stops to hold a 66-60 lead for nearly three minutes before a Notre Dame layup cut it to four with 1:46 left to play. Henderson converted a layup in the paint off a feed from Andre Thomas III to push the advantage back to six with 29 seconds left but the Gators used an a jumper and ensuing free throw to make it a one-possession game with eight seconds remaining. Moore put the game on ice, however, when he knocked down a pair of free throws with six seconds left to seal the win.
Penn State Harrisburg jumped out to a 14-2 lead to begin the game, with a Kevin Lucas Jr. 3-ball pushing the advantage past double digits for the first time at the 14:18 mark. Eccleston hit back-to-back triples to keep the momentum rolling and Thomas connected on a 3-pointer to give the Lions their largest lead of the night at 23-8 with 8:40 left until halftime.
From there, the Gators outscored the visitors 21-12 to end the opening half and pull to within six at the break. Moore buried a 3-ball to open the second half before a Spencer layup in transition gave the Lions an 11-point cushion prior to the late-game dramatics.
NOTABLES
- The Lions hit seven 3-pointers and held Notre Dame to just two buckets from distance.
- The rebounding battle was even at 37-37.
- Moore finished with a team-high 17 points, seven rebounds, two steals and a pair of blocks.
- Eccleston was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field and 2-of-2 from the foul line en route to scoring 15 points.
- Spencer nearly recorded a double-double with 10 points end eight rebounds.
- Henderson tallied 12 points, four assists and three boards.
- Thomas dished-out a game-high seven assists to go along with seven points.
- Lucas added six points off the bench.
WHO'S NEXT?
The Lions continue conference play when they travel to Penn College on Saturday afternoon.
STAY CONNECTED
Fans can keep up with Penn State Harrisburg Athletics all season long on Instagram, Facebook, X and Youtube using the handle @pshbgathletics.
