SHARON, Pa. - The Penn State New Kensington men's basketball team defeated Penn State Shenango on the road on Thursday night to end their regular season gameplay at .500.
The tale of the night was unchanging in the overall performance and rigor of the men. Rebounds and assists stood out most as the men collected a total of 10 in the first half alone. The game was more competitive than the first round on February 10, with Shenango taking control of the game early and New Kensington having to fight for the tie and then a brief lead.
Shenango soon took the lead back and New Kensington fought their way to within the four-point mark. Penn State New Kensington was trailing 20-16 with under 10 minutes left in the first period. Both teams were unlucky with regard to turnovers. Gameplay was stopped by timeouts and fouls, New Kensington racking up seven fouls. Shenganoin followed with six in the first.
Next, the game came within 10 points with 4:45 left in the opening half from the scoring of Jovan Kojic (Subotica, Serbia / Canterbury). The final minutes came down to the efforts of Kojic assisted by Evan Clarke (Aston, Pa. / Garnet Valley) who earned 12 points of his own in the initial 20 minutes.
New Kensington achieved 66.7% of free throws, with a field goal percentage of 55.2. New Kensington brought the game even closer in the final seconds with the help of Jared Sidwell (Apollo, Pa. / Harvest Baptist Academy) and Jaden Stonework (Clinton, Md. / Gwynn Park). At the half, New Kensington was trailing 40-37. Scoring leaders included Clarke with 12 points, Aubrey Feaster II (Buffalo, N.Y. / William B. Travis) with nine, and Jovan Kojic with six.
Joseph Dusabe (Toronto, Ont. / Fox Chapel) was at the forefront of a rapid scoring effort nearing the middle of the second half when New Kensington began to pull away to a 61-48 lead. He was supported by Clarke, Feaster II, and Benjamin Cunningham (Woodbridge, Va. / Christ Chapel Academy) who capitalized on every shot they took.
New Kensington held the lead with under 10 minutes left in the game, the defense keeping Shenango at bay. Shenango also began falling apart in the final 15 minutes, at one point compiling 13 fouls and missing opportunities due in part to the work of Cunningham on the opposite side of the ball.
The men played an incredible second half putting up an additional 60 points and extending the team to a comfortable lead. Shenango did not go down easily, though, bringing in 51 points in the second half.
New Kensington was most pristine in their free throws with 70% made. They also put up 54.5% of shots from the field to end the game on top 97-91. Game leaders include Clarke with 31 points, Feaster II with 22, and Cunningham with 16. With this win, the men improved and ended their regular season with a record of 13-13 overall and 9-10 in conference play.
The attitude of the men's team is especially encouraging as they faced their final regular-season game. Each player is aware that the end of the season does not mean the end of the fight. There is a great amount of basketball still to be played and the men of the Penn State New Kensington Basketball program have yet to give up or lie down, notwithstanding the vast adversity that comes with being a student-athlete.
For now, practice goes on. When looking back on the season, something that the men have learned is not always the best method, we can see that after each loss, they only come back stronger. Oftentimes losing can turn into a bad habit, but on the other hand, it can expose aspects of the game for the better. In the event that any major mistakes are made in-game, that may contribute to a loss, this team will resolve the issues at practice.
One thing that can be said about the men is that they rarely make the same mistake twice. The desire to learn and overcome has helped the team along after all these months and there is no reason to stop now. In a game early this week, the men played at the same pace and scored consistently. Although they took a loss, a few players regularly stand out for their contributions to bringing the team back into the mix when things get tight.
Take Jaden Stonework (Clinton, Md. / Gwynn Park) for example. With a total of 287 minutes and 12.5 minutes per game, he comes in handy on defense, bringing in 51 rebounds, four steals, and eight blocks. He stands six foot five inches tall and while he averages 2.2 points per game, those points are generally achieved at desperate moments of the game. His total on the season is 50 points.
With players like Stonework, it would be hard to lose hope even if the men wanted to. "We gave it our best and what we had just wasn't enough," said Shyheim Flanagan (St. Martinville, La. / Westside) at a February 7 practice. "That comes back to just preparation. I feel like we have the team. We're the team to beat. But we are not where we need to be as far as beating those top top top teams that eventually with practice we will beat those teams."
Naturally, moving into the playoffs means that those strenuous points of the game will not go away any time soon. They would rather they not, as playing tough means playing to win. "In those situations, I feel like that's just something that does happen in a basketball game," said Flanagan. "It could be fatigue or it could be just the nerves of playing in that situation. But as a basketball player, you just have to overcome those situations. Because there are going to be times where you're up 20 and a team comes back. There will be times when you're down 20. We just have to stay level-headed and everything will work its course."
In the end, this is still a sport and it should be a competition, a few of the players chalk it up to simply being a part of the game. "We just didn't execute," said Evan Clarke at a February 9 practice. ". . . missed a lot of shots, didn't play the best defense but I mean that happens sometimes in basketball."
The men will host the first round of playoffs on Saturday, February 19, at 1:00 p.m.
Written by Matt Heavner, PSNK Athletics Communications Intern
