Penn State Scranton Men’s Basketball Dominates in Season Opening Victory

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

On a beautiful, early November Saturday matinee in the electric city, the Penn State Scranton men's basketball squad brought the heat in their home gymnasium, as they dominated from start to finish in their 83-42, impressive 41 point, non-conference triumph over the visiting Vaughn College Warriors to kick-off their 2022-2023 basketball season in stellar fashion.

The Lions from Scranton got off to a hot start and never looked back, as they led by 16 points, 36-20, at the half-time break in the action. In the second half of play, the Lions were even more on point, as they outscored their opponent by 25 points, 47-22, as they left no doubt who would come out on top on the day. Overall, Scranton had a big advantage shooting from the field in the showdown, as they out shot Vaughn College 47.3 percent to 34 percent, and from three point land, Scranton had a key advantage, 40 percent to just 25 percent.

In the matchup, Scranton's offense was led by three stalwart double digit scoring performances, as junior guard Macio Robinson, and two fellow freshman coming off the bench, in Leandro Pena and Noah Foulks set the pace. Robinson led all scorers with a game-high 21 points, on a highly efficient 8-12 shooting from the field and making three out of his six three point attempts, to go along with his three rebounds, and two steals during his quality 28 minutes on the floor. Pena provided a nice spark off the bench in his 14 minutes of work, as he scored 13 points, connecting on three of his four shots from beyond the arc, while also tallying four assists, and two boards in the contest. Last but certainly not least, Foulks gave the Lions a nice low post presence in the ball game, as he scored 10 points on a red hot 5-7 shooting from the field, while also collecting five rebounds on the day.

Meanwhile, Vaughn College was held to only one lone player who scored in double figures in the game, as their freshman forward Beandre Wafer had a solid performance scoring a team-high 12 points on 6-9 shooting from the field, to go along with his seven rebounds in his 30 minutes of gritty work.

Now head coach Chris Sload and his 1-0 Penn State Scranton men's basketball squad will look to continue their winning ways this upcoming Tuesday, November 8^th, when they travel on the road to take on their nearby Wilkes-Barre rival King's College with tip-off scheduled for 5pm. Meanwhile, the 0-1 Vaughn College Warriors will to bounce back from their season opening loss this Tuesday when they go on the road to play at SUNY Purchase with the game kicking-off at 7pm.