NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. – Led by Jamison Nee (Natrona Heights, Pa./Highlands), Penn State New Kensington's men's basketball team sends Penn State Shenagno home with a loss, 83-65. New Kensington keeps their winning streak alive and improves to 2-2 in the conference and 6-4 overall.
As soon as the game began, Shenagno turned over the ball and Brent Ivory (Pittsburgh, Pa./Seton LaSalle) was able to use it to his advantage and make a jump shot for New Kensington. Ivory continued to put up points for the team within the first few minutes, making two layups, one of which came after Jakob Richardson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Seton LaSalle) stole and passed him the ball, putting New Kensington up 6-0. Lamar Lewis (Pittsburgh, Pa./Carrick) added to the board with two free throws, and New Kensington continued to maintain their lead with the help of Shenango's fouls. In the first half, the team made a total of 13 free throws, hightlighted by Tavarski Wardlow (Round Rock, Tx./Hendrickson) who went 5-5 from the line.
After a timeout by New Kensington, the team continued to outdo Shenango with their quick pace and aggression. Nee's fast sprints down the court were impressive, but even more so, when he handled the ball with ease. Nee went to the hoop with a layup and put New Kensington ahead 12-2. Ivory began to make advances on the score too, when he produced the next 3 points, making the score read 17-5. Nee and Ivory kept pushing the team forward with layups, free throws, and three-pointers. Along with New Kensington's great offense, there was great defense. Nate Andrews (Pittsburgh, Pa./Serra Catholic) grabbed four rebounds, three offensive and one defensive. After a 30 second timeout called by New Kensington, Andrews entered the game, missed a layup, but made up for it by getting his own rebound and scoring. This put New Kensington up 27-12. To finish off the first half, New Kensington produced 7 free throws and one three-pointer with a little over four minutes remaining. New Kensington ended the half ahead of Shenango, 37-19.
The second half wasn't as easy for New Kensington, but they never showed defeat. Shenango put up the first points of the half and Richardson answered back with two layups, keeping the team ahead 39-21. Ivory had a perfect shot from the three-point line, which kept the lead too high for Shenango to catch up to with the next few points they made. New Kensington's aggressive defense held Shenango at 36 points for two minutes while they added up six for themselves. After a full time-out called by New Kensington at midpoint, Nee started to bring big points to New Kensington. He made four free throws, shot a good three-pointer, and put in two layups. Nee and Richardson both had 14 points in the second half, which contributed greatly to the team's total of 46 points within that time. Nee also aided the team in the half with five rebounds, six assists, and two steals.
Nee ended the game with 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and five steals. Ivory finished with 20 points, while Richardson added 16 points and five rebounds. Andrews tied with Nee for rebounds, seven, and he put up eight points himself.
Penn State New Kensington's men's basketball team will return to play on January 7 at 8:00 p.m. The game will take place at Penn State Fayette.
Written by Janet Surma
