York, PA – Penn State Schuylkill Men's Basketball fell to PSUAC opponent Penn State York in a close battle on Saturday, 66-63.
A 12-0 run by York gave them a 18-5 lead with 11:13 remaining in the opening half. An and-1 play by Wilvens Fleurizard (Tamarac, FL / Coral Springs High School) capped off a 12-4 stretch by Schuylkill and cut their deficit to 36-29 with 39 seconds remaining in the first half. A made basket by York on the next possession pushed their lead to nine going into the second half.
A 10-2 run by Schuylkill to open the second half brought their deficit to 40-39 with 15:00 minutes remaining in the contest. Back-to-back made baskets by Dashawn Dixon (Baltimore, MD / Cantonsville High School) and Fleurizard respectively, gave Schuylkill their first lead since the opening minutes of the contest.
York connected on a 3-point make out of a timeout with 1:16 remaining in the contest to take a 64-57 lead. Fluerizard quickly answered with a made basket on the next possession to cut the Schuylkill deficit to 64-59.
As York proceeded to inbound the ball after the Schuylkill basket, Antwuan Byrd (Harrisburg, PA / Bishop McDevitt High School) came up with a huge steal and scored the layup to bring Schuylkill within three with 54 seconds remaining.
With 27 seconds remaining and Schuylkill locked in defensively, Bryce Hensley (Auburn, PA / Blue Mountain High School) jumped a York ball screen and came up with yet another huge steal for Schuylkill. With Hensley ahead of the pack, he would take it coast to coast and finish with a two-handed slam dunk to bring Schuylkill within one with 27 seconds remaining. With time on York's side, Schuylkill was forced to foul. York went 2-2 from the charity stripe and extended their lead to 66-63. Schuylkill was unable to capitalize late as York escaped with the win.
Fluerizard led Schuylkill with 23 points. Dixon finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds.
Schuylkill (11-14. 10-4 PSUAC) will return home on Tuesday, February 7th, as they take on Penn State Lehigh Valley. Tip-off time is set for 6:00 p.m.
