Mont Alto Men’s Basketball Roll into PSUAC Tournament in Senior Night Win

By: Frank Maira, Assistant Director of Athletics/Sports Information Director

MONT ALTO, Pa. – Prior to tip-off the Penn State Mont Alto men's basketball program honored its senior Austin Towner (Littlestown, Pa. / Littlestown) in a pregame ceremony. The team rolled to a 90-81 win over PSU Brandywine and will host a PSUAC Quarterfinals matchup next Tuesday as the No. 1 seed in the PSUAC West.

Inside the Box Score

• Mont Alto (24-4, 17-2 PSUAC) had a quartet of scorers finish with 10 or more points on Friday night. John Teague (Hagerstown, Md. / North Hagerstown) led the way with 17 points and eight rebounds. Freshman forward JR Powe (Frederick, Md. / Thomas Johnson) had another double-double with 21 points and 14 boards. He knocked in 9-of-11 shots from the field. The W.Va. combo of Marcus Roper (Charles Town, W. Va. / Jefferson) and Cameron Williams (Inwood, W.Va. / Musselman) scored 17 and 13 points, respectively with Williams recording his first collegiate double-double with 10 boards.
• PSUMA outrebounded the visitors by a 53-34 margin. Brandywine shot 42% from the field and were led in scoring by Ketquan Gatewood who had a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
• The game featured 13 lead changes with most of them occurring within the first half.

How it Happened

• Brandywine opened on a 5-0 scoring run, but Teague scored four of the next six points to give his team the lead. They continued to trade baskets as the visitors went on a 7-0 spurt to cut the deficit to 22-20. Mont Alto continued to build on that lead within the final five minutes of the half and owned a seven-point advantage at halftime (40-33).
• Mont Alto made it a priority in the second half to pound the ball into the paint as JR Powe (Frederick, Md. / Thomas Johnson) heated up and powered his team to 16-point lead after a jumper with 13:16 left. It was a 12-2 surge from the visitors that cut the deficit to 62-51 over the next three minutes.
• Brandywine began to press on defense and forced a few miscues and Bryce Barrouk trey with a 1:16 made it 83-73. PSUMA hit their free throws down the stretch for the win.

With the No. 1 seed in the PSUAC West, Mont Alto will host the quarterfinals matchup against Penn State Beaver. Game time on Tuesday is slated for 8 p.m.