USCAA Men's Basketball National Championship Tournament- Opening Round- Villa Maria 78, Penn State Mont Alto 68

PETERSBURG, Va.- Able to tie the score at 29-29 at the half, Mont Alto trailed by as much as 13 points and couldn't overcome the second half deficit in an opening round loss of the USCAA National Tournament against Villa Maria 78-68. Veron Talla led the balanced Mont Alto offensive attack with 14 points, Nathan Osei had 13 and Cameron Williams chipped in 12. Juston Johnson paced Villa Maria with a game high 22 points. Juston Johnson was right behind him with 21 points for the ninth seeded Vikings.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

-Tied 4-4 early, Villa Maria capped off a 7-0 spurt with a Nolan Shepard three pointer, leading 11-4 with 14:38 left in the half.

-Down 11-8, Mont Alto got a 5-0 run from Joseph Brooks to move in front 13-11. Brooks finished off an and one, forcing the Vikings to take a timeout.

-Caleb Eckert converted on the first dunk of the game with Mont Alto trailing 26-25, giving the Nittany Lions a 27-26 advantage with 1:17 left in the half.

-Villa Maria jumped out to an early lead in the second half, capped off by a Juston Johnson and one to push the Vikings up 36-29.

-A Damario James jumpshot pushed the Vikings lead to 44-31 with 14:22 left in the game.

-Trailing 57-49, Mont Alto scraped their way back into the game with free throws from Veron Talla and a made three pointer from Nathan Osei.

-Villa Maria was able to fight off a Mont Alto comeback effort to take the opening round contest 78-68.

VILLA MARIA LEADERS

Juston Johnson 22 points, 8 rebounds

Taron Benton 21 points, 8 rebounds

MONT ALTO LEADERS

Veron Talla 14 points

Nathan Osei 13 points, 6 assists

Cameron Williams 12 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists

Up Next: Mont Alto will take on Southern Maine CC at 10am on Monday morning from Virginia State University in the consolation bracket.