January 7, 2012
Beaver nips Grove City
MONACA, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's basketball team dropped a 64-62 decision at Penn State Beaver (8-4) Saturday night in non-conference action in the Beaver Field House. Grove City trailed 56-50 with four minutes remaining in the game before rallying.
Freshman guard Mitch Marmelstein (San Juan Capistrano, Calif./St. Margaret's) started the run with a three-point goal while senior guard Brett Matson (Wexford, Pa./Pine-Richland) added a jumper that pulled the Wolverines to within 60-57 with 1:57 left.
Matson then hit two foul shots with 1:36 left, trimming the lead to 60-59. Beaver's Quinton Burton hit a three-pointer with one minute left, pushing the lead to four but Matson countered with a three-pointer with 44 seconds left.
Penn State Beaver's Tony Houghton split two free throws with 22 seconds remaining, giving Grove City a chance to tie or win on its final possession. Matson's three-point attempt with three seconds left missed and the Wolverines could not put up another shot despite gaining the offensive rebound.
Matson led Grove City (6-7) with 13 points while senior center Kris Verderber (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) and freshman forward Brian Giesler (Harrisville, Pa./Slippery Rock) both fired in 12 points.
Grove City led by as many as 13, 25-12, in the first half. The Wolverines led 29-19 at halftime. Beaver opened the second half with a 19-5 run as Grove City had just two field goals over the first eight minutes of the period.
Darius Prince led Penn State Beaver with 17 points. Houghton had 13 points and Chris Weather added 11. Penn State Beaver shot 43 percent (23 of 53) from the field while Grove City went 25 for 51 (49 percent). Penn State Beaver did own a 32-21 edge in rebounds. The Lions went 13 for 21 at the foul line while Grove City went 4 for 5.
Verderber led Grove City with six rebounds and Matson had five boards. Senior guard Cody Fleeger (Butler, Pa./Butler) and freshman guard J.T. Schwartz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler) both had four assists each.
Penn State Beaver is now 3-0 against Presidents' Athletic Conference foes. The Lions also own wins over Waynesburg (85-77) and Geneva (89-83) this year.
Grove City returns to conference play Wednesday night at 8 p.m. against visiting Washington & Jefferson.
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