Beaver routs New Kensington in conference regional match, 92-68

By: Matylda Zamudio

New Kensington, Pa. – The Penn State Beaver men's basketball team took down PSUAC rival New Kensington 92-68 in Wednesday night's road game.

Four of Beaver's starters earned double-digit points tonight with junior guard John Foster (Austin/Del Valle) leading the charge, earning a game-high 30 points as well as nine rebounds for the game. Following Foster was PSUAC Player of the Week sophomore forward Andrew Brady (Alliance/Marlington), who earned his second double-double in a row with 25 points and 13 rebounds.

Freshman guard Keon Butler (Annapolis/Star Severn School) contributed 14 points and four rebounds and freshman forward Austin Brady (Alliance/Marlington) contributed 13 points and six rebounds for the night. 

1st half: Beaver came out aggressive early, taking an early 9-1 lead in the first four minutes of the game. At 9:26, New Kensington fought back and cut the deficit to only two points (15-13), but a but three straight 3-pointers, including two from Foster, helped Beaver edge out an 11-point lead (24-13). The teams remained close with Beaver holding on to a slight lead over New Kensington until the visitors ran into foul trouble, sending Beaver to the line to hit 10 free throws in the final five minutes of the half. Beaver hit 14-17 from the free-throw line and led by 19 at halftime (45-26). Foster and Andrew Brady combined for 28 of Beaver's 45 in the first.

2nd half: Beaver maintained a hefty lead for the first 10 minutes of the second half, however, New Kensington managed to cut Beaver's lead to only 10 points at the 9:20 mark (67-57). But in the latter half of the second, the Lions became dominant off the glass, efficiently rebounding the ball from both sides of the floor which propelled Beaver to build back up a 20-point lead. Beaver's largest lead came at 1:59, when Foster found Butler, who sank a jumper from behind the arch to give Beaver a 26-point lead (88-26). Beaver controlled the tempo of the game and thanks to an early 19-point lead and a collective effort by the team, Beaver took down New Kensington, 92-68.

Box Score Highlights: Beaver outshot New Kensington 52.6 percent to 38.1 percent from the field and shot 86.2 percent from the line, hitting 25-29 shots from the charity stripe. Beaver outrebounded New Kensington 45-27, racked six more assists, and outscored New Kensington 36-26 on points in the points in the paint.

With today's win against New Kensington, Beaver improves to 5-2 in the PSUAC standings and a 9-4 regular season record.

Beaver will return for more conference action on the road against Penn State Fayette on Saturday, Jan. 12. The game begins at 3 p.m.