NITTANY LIONS HOLD OFF EXPRESS IN SECOND HALF FOR CONFERENCE WIN

AURORA, N.Y. –The Wells College men's basketball team lost at home to the visiting Penn. St. Berks Nittany Lions 76-73 in North Eastern Athletic Conference action Saturday afternoon in Aurora. Terry Harrison (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led all scorers with 23 points to go along with 12 rebound, while fellow senior Andre Sawyers (Bronx, N.Y.) chipped in 12 points and added 10 rebounds, including six offensive boards.

Penn. St. Berks received well rounded scoring with four players finishing in double digits.  Shawn Green (Philadelphia, Pa.), Tom Smith (Norristown, Pa.), and Connor Hough (Telford, Pa.) each had 14 points and five rebounds apiece, while Tore Turner (Baltimore, Md.) added 12 points to round out the highlights for the Nittany Lions.

During the first half of action there were nine lead changes and five ties. The largest lead of the first half would be eight points by the Nittany Lions before Jon Bonds (Chicago, Ill.) had a follow up dunk as time expired to trim the lead to six heading into the half 36-30.

The Express came out of the second half misfiring allowing the Nittany Lions to build a twelve point lead five minutes into the second. The Express chipped away at the lead, tying the game on an old fashioned three point play by Harrison with five minutes to play. The Berks defense tightened up holding the Express scoreless in the next two minutes while building a six point lead that Wells would never come back from.

Wells held the advantage in rebounding over Berks 45-35, but 19 turnovers led to 20 points by Berks scorers. Penn. St. shot 45 percent from the field and finished 81 percent (13-16) from the charity stripe. Wells shot 40 percent from the floor including 8 of 23 from behind the arc.

The Express return to action next when they head to Rochester to take on Nazareth College on Tuesday, Jan. 10 at 7:00 pm.

Release written by Sports Information Interns Chris Burger and Chris Green