WRITING SAMPLES

Journalism

Men take second in USCAA

The Penn State Beaver men’s basketball team lost in the first round of the Penn State University Athletic Conference championship to rival Penn State Mont Alto, but made it all the way to the last round of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association tournament before falling short.

The team came together strong this season, and both players and coach say the seniors on the roster were a huge factor to the team’s success. “(Seniors) Markes Royster, Chris Weathers, Roger Rhoden and I let it be known that we want to go out swinging,” said senior Nick Miller. “We buckled down and really tuned into what Coach (Marcess) Williams taught us.”

The team had an overall record of 22-8, which pushed them through to the USCAA tournament.

In the tournament, No. 8-seed Beaver fought their way into the final round – narrowly defeating Berkeley-New York City 76-68, Central Maine Community College 103-101 in overtime and Penn State Mont Alto 85-61 – but fell to Andrews University, 73-59. The game was Beaver’s most physical of the tournament.

With the loss, Beaver took second in the nation in the USCAA, while Andrews claimed its third national title in four years. “We gave it our all, but the team was visibly tired in that (final) game,” Williams said.

Beaver took an early 8-5 lead in the game, but this would be the only lead the Lions held. Andrews built a lead of 16 in the first half, but Beaver battled to cut it to 37-26 at the break. In the second half, Beaver tried to claw its way back, but at every turn Andrews turned it up as well, building leads of 16, 17, and 16. Beaver gave one final push, cutting it to 10 with about a minute to play, but could not get any closer.

Sophomore Rob Agurs led all scorers with 21 points, while Weathers added 20. Andrews controlled the boards, out-rebounding Beaver 49-30.

In the PSUAC tournament, No. 3-seed Beaver lost 90-84 to No. 2-seed Mont Alto on the road in a back-and-forth battle. With just 1:18 left on the clock and the game tied at 82, a Beaver team in foul trouble just couldn’t hang on to earn the win.