Men’s Basketball Set Down By Nittany Lions, 77-64

READING, Pa. – The Wells College men's basketball team posted a 77-64 loss to the Nittany Lions of Penn St.-Berks Friday evening. With the loss, the Express fall to 5-7 overall on the season while evening their North Eastern Athletic Conference record at 1-1. The Nittany Lions collect their third victory of the season and improve to 2-1 in NEAC play.

The Express jumped out to a 12-6 lead with only 13:41 remaining in the first half following layups by Ryan Hood (Massillon, Ohio) and Kenneth Boddie (Syracuse, N.Y.). However, consecutive layups by Darren Major cut the score to 14 apiece with 11 minutes remaining in the stanza. From there, the Express and Nittany Lions traded ties two additional times before Penn St.-Berks captured the lead once again following a Dontez Reid three point basket with 5:09 remaining in the first half.

Trailing by a 36-32 margin entering the second half, the Express were outscored by a 41-32 margin in the second half en route to their second NEAC loss of the season. Despite tying the game following a J.J. Walton (Ocala, Fla.) layup with 16:48 remaining, the Express let the lead slip away. A Jordan Bishop (Arlington, Texas) jumper with 9:21 remaining cut the home team's lead to one, but Wells would not see a smaller deficit for the remainder of the contest.

Cumulatively for the Express, E.J. Taylor (Tampa Bay, Fla.) posted 18 points to lead the team. Bishop trailed Taylor with 13 total points while Hood posted 11 points via a 5-for-10 performance from the field. Taylor was 3-for-6 from three point range and also posted a team-leading six boards. Junior Jonathan Bonds (Chicago, Ill.) led the team with seven rebounds.

For the Nittany Lions, Tom Smith led the way with 15 points by shooting 7-for-11 from the field. Jeff Schmidt posted 10 total rebounds while Dameon Nixon accumulated 14 points. Evan Belczyk scored 10 points in 15 minutes for the Nittany Lions.

The Nittany Lions still trail the all-time series by a 6-2 margin, but carry a two-game winning streak exiting play this afternoon.

The Express continue their Pennsylvania road trip Saturday, Jan. 5 as they face-off against Lancaster Bible College in a 3:00 p.m. contest. Stay up to date with the latest news directly from the Wells College athletic department by "liking" us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/WellsExpress) and subscribing to our Twitter account (http://www.twitter.com/WellsExpress).