BOX SCORE
Scranton, PA – Marywood rallied from a 10-point deficit midway through the second half and held on to edge Penn State-Harrisburg 79-78 in an exciting non-conference match-up Tuesday evening. With their third straight victory, the Pacers have already equaled their win total from a season ago and hold a 5-4 record. The loss dropped the Lions to 2-9.
After Marywood took a quick 2-0 lead to start the game, Penn State-Harrisburg would control most of the first half, leading by as many as seven before taking a six-point lead into halftime after Abe Hitz scored on a lay-up just before the buzzer. Marywood's Matthew Medici (Princeton, NJ) led the Pacers with a first half double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Joshua Pena (New York City, NY) chipped in 9 points. Hitz paced the Lions with 16 first-half points, while Seth Lewis added 12.
Marywood would used a 7-0 run over a span of 2:20 span early in the second half to tie the score at 45-45 on a three-pointer from Pena with 13:18 to play. The Lions immediately countered with a 14-4 run that included four Hitz three-pointers to build a 10-point cushion with 9:31 remaining.
After a Marywood timeout following Hitz's final three-pointer, the Pacers responded in a big way, going on a 15-0 run to take a nine-point lead of their own at 70-61 with just 1:44 to play. Chadli Charlot (Lake Worth, FL) put an exclamation point on the rally with his dunk on an inside feed from Medici just moments after he blocked a Hitz offering at the other end of the court.
The Lions battled back to make the game interesting with Cole McGuire knocking down a three-pointer that narrowed the Pacers lead to two with 21 seconds to play. However, Medici and Pena each tossed in a pair of free throws sandwiching a Seth Lewis lay-up to give the Pacers a four-point edge in the closing seconds before Lewis hit a three-pointer as time expired to close out the scoring.
Marywood finished the evening shooting 49.2 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from three-point range, while the Lions shot 44.1 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from beyond the arc.
Medici had a huge night to lead the Pacers with 26 points, 18 rebounds, and five assists, while Pena topped the twenty-point plateau for the second consecutive game with his 23-point performance. Karl Anderson (Northampton, PA) contributed 13 points to the win, while Charlot finished with 12 points and 7 rebounds.
Hitz led the Lions with a game-high 30 points, while Lewis added 28 points and six rebounds for Penn State-Harrisburg.
The Pacers will resume the conference portion of their schedule on Saturday when they host Neumann College. Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m.
