PSUD Runs Away In Opener

Penn State DuBois men's basketball team kicked off the 2017-18 season with a runaway home win over the previously 3-0 Westmoreland County Community College Wolfpack. Senior Tristan Pierce (Lancaster,Oh) scored the first bucket of the game followed by another made jumper from freshman Kendrick Maye (Woodbridge,Va.) The first game jitters were apparent on the PSUD side of the contest, as the 17:06 mark showed a score of 2-4 PSUD. After a few WMCCC baskets the score was still low 6-5 at the 15:09 mark. WMCCC would then make a run until 13:06 taking their biggest lead of the game 13-5. An offensive rebound and put back by another freshman Hezekiah Hopkins (Huntingtown,Md) would give PSUD their first basket in 4 minutes. Both sides continued to grind for the remainder of the half with PSUD leading at the break 40-33.

Three minutes into the second half, PSUD would take a 10 point and never look back. With 13 minutes left in the game sophomore Dylan Huey (Punxsutawney,Pa) would get three layups in 30 seconds as PSUD would control the tempo with an up and down running style. Their depth would start to take over at this point as PSUD's game plan of playing 11 guys over 12 minutes paid off. The deeper team would close the last 5 minutes of the game on a 21-8 run to seal the first game of the season.

Tristan Pierce would lead all scorers with 24 while also adding 8 rebounds. Freshman Aaron Krzyzewski (Long Island,NY) began his career with a stat stuffing game of 13 points, 12 rebounds,5 assists, and 3 blocks. Hezekiah Hopkins would come off the bench with a solid double-double 14 points/10 rebounds on 6-8 shooting. Dylan Huey and Kendrick Maye would contribute 9 points apiece for an overall balance scoring attack for PSUD.

PSUD would outrebound WMCCC 61-36, outscore them by 6 at the free throw line, dish 19 assists to 11, and block 7 shots to zero.

On the win, Coach Howard stated "We have been preaching intensity, sprinting, and playing as hard as possible during your time on the court. Tonight I thought we did a decent job of that which lead to a good team win. We are deep and need to use that to our advantage. We still made a lot of mistakes tonight that we need to tighten up but with this being our first game against an opponent that was 3-0 playing in their fourth the coaching staff is pleased."

PSUD will next travel to Pitt-Titusville Friday for a 7pm tip.