MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – Penn State Harrisburg's men's basketball team avenged last season's playoff exit with a convincing 85-70 victory over conference foe Notre Dame (Md.) at the Capital Union Building in the quarterfinal round of the United East Championship Tournament on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 21.


Jordan Spencer poured in a career-high 24 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds to lead the way, while Chris Henderson Jr. tallied 11 points and five boards. Andre Thomas III flirted with a double-double, finishing with eight points and a game-high eight assists. Dylan Moore added nine points and four boards, while Isaiah Milien and David Reed IV chipped in with seven points apiece.


After the Gators (16-10) cut a double-digit deficit to four with 13:04 left to play, Penn State Harrisburg (16-10) methodically put together a 15-5 run over the next six minutes. The spurt began with a fastbreak layup from Justin Leddo off a Kevin Lucas Jr. feed and continued with a layup from Maurice Davis off a pretty pass from Spencer. Davis eventually added another layup and Henderson knocked down a 3-ball to push the lead to 10 at the 10:02 mark before Reed converted back-to-back layups to make it 69-55 with 7:05 remaining.


Thomas added a pair of free throws to bump the lead up to 16 at the 4:21 mark and Moore put things out of reach for good with a corner 3-ball that stretched the advantage to 77-58 with 3:48 to play.


Notre Dame jumped out to a five-point lead to begin the game but the Lions used a 6-0 run to pull ahead 14-11 following an Elija Eccleston 3-pointer with 12:19 left in the first half. Another triple from Antwone George made it 22-15 at the 9:06 mark and Milien buried a jumper from beyond the arc to stretch the lead to 31-21 three and a half minutes later.


Spencer connected on his second 3-pointer of the half to give Penn State Harrisburg its largest lead of the opening half at 13 before the Lions took a 40-31 advantage into halftime.


NOTABLES
- The Lions shot an impressive 47.4 percent from beyond the arc and 48.3 percent from the field.
- Penn State Harrisburg finished with a 37-35 edge in the rebounding department.
- The Lions recorded assists on 23 of their 28 made field goals.
- The home team scored 24 points of Notre Dame turnovers.
- Spencer poured in a game-high 24 points on 66.7 percent shooting. He also grabbed a team-high six rebounds and blocked two shots.
- Henderson tallied 11 points and grabbed five boards.
- Moore added nine points, four rebounds and two blocks.
- Thomas nearly recorded a double-double with eight points and a game-high eight assists.
- Milien and Reed each netted seven points.


WHO'S NEXT?
The Lions travel to Lancaster Bible to face the top-seeded Chargers in the semifinal round of the United East Championship Tournament 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.