Hazleton prevails in thrilling battle with Berkeley Knights

Hazleton, Pa. - The Nittany Lions won their season opener in a Friday night clash with the Knights of Berkeley College of Ny. Hazleton overcame a loss in the rebounding and turnover columns by out-shooting the Knights from beyond the arc and from the field in general. The Lions posted 11 triples on the Knights including seven from fourth year Jerry Surrency III and shot just under 48 percent from the field to edge out the Knights 104-97 and secure Head Coach Robbie Hopkins his first career victory. 

A pretty even matchup in the first half saw seven ties and eight lead changes. The Lions trailed slightly late in the half until a contested lay up by third year Andre Campbell sparked a nine point run by the Lions. Surrency tacked on back to back buckets including one of his four first-half trifectas and fourth year Connor Rushing capped the run with a bucket in the paint to put Hazleton up by seven points with less than two minutes to play in the half. The Knight struck for the final four points of the period, giving Hazleton a slim 53-50 advantage at the midway point. 

Campbell and third year Shammel Ponds powered the offense for the Lions early in the second half, extending Hazleton's lead to 60-53 out of the gates and Surrency knocked in a pair of triples to help the Lions gain some distance on the Knights with a 12 point advantage midway through the period. The game came would come to a screeching halt midway through the final period as fouls began to mount up against both squads and allowed the Knights to hang around in this one. Berkeley cut into the a 13 point lead of Hazleton late in the game, gnawing their way back into a one possession game with just over a minute to play but on the Lions next possession, Rushing struck from the corner for a crucial triple which was followed by a slam from campbell to bump the lead back to seven points with just over 30 seconds remaining and Hazleton hung on in the final possessions to close out the season opener 104-97. 

Surrency and Campbell were electric in Hazleton win on Friday. Surrency finished the night 7-for-14 from beyond the arc to lead all scorers with 36 points and Campbell added a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds including an 11-of-14 effort from the free throw line. Rushing added 16 points and seven rebounds to lead the effort from the Nittany Lion reserves while Ponds totaled 13 points with three swipes to round out the top efforts on Friday. 

Hazleton is back in action on Wednesday, November 6 when the Lions welcome Manor College to the Dr. Thomas M. Caccese Gymnasium for a 7:00 p.m. non-conference event.