Beaver picks up a win in Florida

Lake Wales, FL -- The Penn State Beaver Men's Basketball Team traveled to Florida for Christmas Break to take on two NAIA schools from the Sun Conference.  Their first opponent of the weekend was Warner University.

To open the game, Beaver fell early going down by 5 just over two minutes into the contest, but they tied the game quickly in the next 90 seconds on a 3-pointer by Rob Agurs (Pittsburgh, PA/Penn Hills) and a jumper and a dunk by Chris Weathers (New Brighton, PA/New Brighton).  The teams battled back and forth throughout the half as Beaver went up by as many as six (11:26) and down by as many as three before the game was tied at 43 with just 40 seconds left in the half.  A 3-pointer by Weathers with only 4 seconds left in the first half gave Beaver the lead 46-43 as they went into halftime.

Beaver came out hot in the second half, shooting very well and taking a 10 point lead at the 15:12 mark on a free throw from Chris Weathers.  The Lions maintained their lead throughout the half and even expanded it to 12 at the 6:57 mark.  Sensing that the game was slipping away, the Royals then found their rhythm and began shooting well, closing Beaver's lead to only 1 with two minutes to play in the game.  The last minute of the game was a tense one, with the score 81-80 in favor of Beaver, the Lions had a turnover which looked to be costly, but a technical foul by Warner sent Nick Miller (Beaver Falls, PA/Beaver Falls) to the line.  He hit one of two to expand their lead to 2 points.  With the Royals in desparation mode, fouling to try to stay alive, Beaver was able to keep their lead and win the game by a final score of 86-81. 

Leading the Lions in scoring were Weathers with 27, Agurs with 23 and Miller with 22. 

Beaver will play again tomorrow at 4:00p.m. as they travel across town to face Webber International University in Babson Park, FL.