Mont Alto Men’s Basketball Post 86-82 Win over Wilkes-Barre, Clinch Berth into Postseason

By: Frank Maira, Assistant Director of Athletics/Sports Information Director

MONT ALTO, Pa. – The Penn State Mont Alto men's basketball team survived a late Wilkes-Barre run and officially clinched their Penn State University Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament bid following a thrilling 86-82 win on Friday night.

Inside the Box Score

• Quintyn Flemister (Harrisburg, Pa. / Harrisburg) had a career-high outing all across the stat sheet. The sophomore guard splashed a career-best 6-of-9 shots from downtown for a collegiate-best 27 points. He led all scorers, while also adding six steals, four rebounds and took five charges including two within the final 1:30 of the game.
• Both Jalen Smith (Ranson, W.Va. / Jefferson) and John Teague (Hagerstown, Md. / North Hagerstown) provided secondary scoring finishing with 18 points each. Teague was a perfect 8-for-8 from the field and Smith recorded a double-double with 10 boards.
• Penn State Wilkes-Barre (15-4, 13-1 PSUAC) dropped their first conference game of the season and had three different players finish in double figures. Levaugn Knight-Soules had 17 points and Khalil White recorded 16 points with Davaughn Roberts limited to 13 in 26 minutes.
• Mont Alto (49.2 percent) held the edge in shooting percentage over Penn State Wilkes-Barre (45.9 percent), the seventh time in the past eight PSUMA games that they have had a higher shooting percentage than its opponent.
• Despite the size advantage, Wilkes-Barre only held a 38-36 advantage in rebounds.

How it Happened

• Mont Alto surged out to a 9-2 lead to open that was capped off by a Jalen Smith (Ranson, W.Va. / Jefferson) trey. Wilkes-Barre responded with a run of its own and tied it up at nine points apiece on a Kevin Silverberg 3-pointer with 15:12 remaining.
• The teams went end-to-end for the next five minutes and traded-3 points, which included a two-straight from Flemister that put Mont Alto up 29-27 with under nine minutes left in the half. The rebounding advantage and second chance points hurt Mont Alto and led to eight different ties. A Jalen Smith (Ranson, W.Va. / Jefferson) steal and transition finish with under 10 seconds brought the game to 39 points apiece going into halftime break.
• PSUMA spurted out a 9-2 run to open the second half after an unassisted Kevin Holston (Fort Washington, Md. / Friendly) jumper. They recorded a double-digit advantage after another Flemister 3-pointer at 70-59 with 7:05 remaining.
• Wilkes-Barre responded with an 11-0 run that tied it up before a John Teague (Hagerstown, Md. / North Hagerstown), put back layup put Mont Alto back up 72-70. The team never relinquished that lead during the final 3:21. PSUMA withstood five-straight Wilkes-Barre points in 10 seconds that made it 83-82, with 26 seconds left. Mont Alto hit their free throws down the stretch and played outstanding defense for the 86-82 victory.

The Lions return to action tomorrow when they host Penn State Scranton in a conference matchup at 3 p.m.