January 3, 2013
Grove City holds off Beaver
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's basketball team opened 2013 with a 68-64 victory over Penn State Beaver Thursday night in non-conference action at the Grove City College Arena.
Sophomore guard J.T. Schwartz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler) recorded his first collegiate double-double with 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds while freshman center Mark Pilarski (Gibsonia, Pa./Hampton) poured in 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field. Sophomore guard Mitch Marmelstein (San Juan Capistrano, Calif./St. Margaret's) added 12 points and sophomore forward Brian Giesler (Harrisville, Pa./Slippery Rock) contributed nine points.
Grove City (3-8 overall) never trailed and led 37-25 at halftime. Penn State Beaver (10-3) opened the second half with a 17-6 spurt, pulling to within one. Grove City countered with a 17-4 run which featured a Schwartz three and two field goals each from Giesler, Marmelstein and Pilarski.
Penn State Beaver rallied again, cutting the lead to 64-62 with 26 seconds left. However, Marmelstein and sophomore guard Christian Durbin (Harmony, Pa./Seneca Valley) both hit two free throws in the closing moment to help cement the win.
Grove City shot 25 of 55 (46 percent) from the field while holding Penn State Beaver to a 19-for-55 (34 percent) shooting performance. Grove City also owned a 42-33 edge in rebounds. Pilarski added seven boards and Marmelstein collected six rebounds.
Senior forward Nate Rambacher (Newmanstown, Pa./Eastern Lebanon) tallied five assists while Durbin had four assists. Giesler and Marmelstein both had three assists.
Rob Agurs led the Lions with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Nick Miller added 15 points. Penn State Beaver had won seven straight games against Presidents' Athletic Conference members, including wins this year over Geneva, Thiel and Washington & Jefferson.
Grove City returns to league play at Geneva Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Beaver Falls, Pa.
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