By Brandy Thurston, Director of Sports Information
(Morrisville, NY – Feb. 22, 2014) The Morrisville State College men’s basketball team toppled visiting Penn St. Abington Saturday afternoon by a 98-91 final, as the senior class lead the way in their final game on the Mustang court to collect the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) victory.
Morrisville State improved to 17-8 overall, 13-5 in NEAC play, while the Nittany Lions dropped to 14-11, 11-7 in conference action.
The seven member senior class each posted eight or more points in the high scoring affair, including Jordan Prior (Cortland, N.Y.) who led the way with 20, while dishing out seven assists. Tom Wilk (Cortland, N.Y.) added 19 in dominating force in the post, registering three assists and three steals, as teammate Brandon Hanks (Syracuse, N.Y.) hit 4-of-6 long balls for 15 points, and added seven rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Sherard King (Bronx, N.Y.) saved his best performance of his career for the finale in front of the Mustang home crowd, posting his first collegiate double-double behind an 11 point, 10 rebound performance. Jailaan Kinsey (Syracuse, N.Y.) also notched 11, while teammates Kucjok Ater (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Anthony Betances (Harlem, N.Y.) added nine and eight points, respectively.
Avery Barnes and Max Alton led the Nittany Lion efforts with 16 points each, with Barnes controlling the glass for the visitors with 10. Kyle Garrett and Kevin Cooper each added 11 in the losing efforts, with Mike Marvin rounding out the leaders with 10.
Morrisville State posted their highest point total of the season in the contest, collecting 50 in the opening half behind 48.6% shooting on 17-of-35 shots from the floor.
The Mustangs led by as many as 11 midway through the first period before Abington had a 7-0 burst to make it a four point game with 8:48 to go before the break. Just over five minutes later, Abington was able to pull within one, but Morrisville State went on a 10-4 run over the final 3:31 to take a 50-43 lead into intermission.
Abington was able to make it a three point game at the 16:24mark on a layup by Barnes, but the Mustangs again went on a 10-4 burst, regaining a nine point advantage on the visitors.
A layup by King at 7:52 gave Morrisville State the 13 point lead, which Abington chipped away at, but wasn’t able to pull any closer than five as the Mustangs secured the win making key free throws down the stretch, including three by Betances in the final 26 seconds of the contest.
Morrisville State hit 29-of-61 shots on the day (47.5%) and was 9-for-19 from beyond the arc, while nailing a season high 31-of-41 opportunities from the charity stripe.
With the regular season at an end, Morrisville State finished second overall in the NEAC standings, advancing to the postseason tournament for the fourth straight year, where they will look to defend their tournament title. The playoff bracket will officially be announced by the conference office once all regular season play has concluded.
Prior to the contest, Morrisville State honored its senior class of Betances, Kinsey, Prior, Hanks, Ater, King and Wilk. The group is one of the most successful classes in NCAA basketball history at Morrisville State, together combining for a 71-36 overall record, 40-14 in the past two years, and has claimed two regular season and two NEAC Tournament Championship titles, while making back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division III Tournament.