Nowak Stays Hot As Lions Rout Scranton Worthington

Hazleton's Matt Manbeck goes up with a shot to score one of his 10 points in PSU Hazleton's 93-74 win over PSU Scranton-Worthington
Hazleton's Matt Manbeck goes up with a shot to score one of his 10 points in PSU Hazleton's 93-74 win over PSU Scranton-Worthington

The Lions of PSU Hazleton (3-5, 2-3 PSUAC) never trailed during their second straight victory and five players reached the double-digit scoring mark. Nick Nowak Led all scorers for the second straight game scoring 24 points while Brandon Mohammed had a monster game in the paint adding 21 points and pulling down 18 rebounds (10 offensive and 8 defensive). Royce Brathwaite continued to have a hot hand adding 15 points while backcourt mate Robbie Hopkins pumped in 12 points of his own. Hazleton's bench made a huge contribution as Matt Manbeck scored 10 points and hauled in 8 rebounds.  Justin Arriola led Scranton-Worthington with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Hazleton shot 47% from three while holding Scranton-Worthington to just 21% from beyond the arc, including 3-8 in the second half.

The game was tight for the first 5 minutes of the game with Scranton-Worthington holding a 13-6 lead.  It was then that Hazleton exploded in thenext 8 minutes outscoring Scranton-Worthington 24-8. Scranton-Worthington responded and fought back to end the half trailing by just 9 points.  Justin Ariola hit a 3 point shot to open the second half to pull Scranton-Worthington with six points, but that was the closest they would get the rest of the game.

Hazleton maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way, building it all the way up to 28 points at one time, and cruised to the victory.

PSU Hazleton will travel to Wilkes-Barre, Friday to face Kings College at 8:00 as part of the Monarch Classic Tournament. They will continue play the next day against an opponent to be determined.