Close but not Close Enough

By: Marcus Smith

Pittsburgh, PA-- Penn State Beaver played Case Western University in the Carnagie Mellon University tournament this afternoon.

Beaver came out flat in the first half going down 6 points early in the game.  Case increased their lead to 8 points (19-11) at the 13:00 minute mark forcing Beaver to play from behind in the first half.  In the ninth minute, Beaver went on an 8-0 run capped off on a Chris Best (Brooklyn, NY / Bishop Ford) lay-up and foul shot to bring the deficit to 2 points (26-24). But this push wasn't enough to swing the momentum as Case Western went on to take a 16 point lead at halftime, 52-36. 

Case Western shot very well the first half and shot 81% from foul line in the first half which hurt Beaver. Also, Case Western's size hurt Beaver in the first half getting out rebounded 21-14 due to foul trouble from the bigs early.

In the second half Beaver out scored Case Western but being down 52-36 at half-time Beaver played catch up the whole half. The closest Beaver came to coming back was with 15 minutes left Beaver was down 9 points. But as Beaver and Case Western shared buckets Beaver just didnt have enough to come back. Case Western went on to win 107-93.

Beaver was led in scoring by senior guard Chris Best (Brooklyn, New York/Bishop Ford) with 26 points, followed by runior guard Marcus Smith (Pittsburgh, PA/Perry) with 23 points, and junior guard Lamont Wright (Pittsburgh, PA/ Penn Hills) with 21 points.

Beaver's next game is November 30th at Carnagie Mellon University at 3 p.m.