Cazenovia, N.Y. - The Penn State Abington men's basketball team fell to the Cazenovia College Wildcats 85-73 Saturday afternoon.
Both teams would start out well in the first half, as Abington and Cazenovia would trade baskets with one another for the majority of the opening twenty minutes.
Dequan Jackson's (Philadelphia, Pa.) jumper at the 4:41 mark of the first half would give the Nittany Lions a slim 35-32 lead.
Cazenovia would battle back to take a 43-41 lead after Brad LeFevere's jumper was good with 35 seconds remaining in the first half. Abington would trail 43-41 at half.
The Nittany Lions were 15-of-29 (51.7%) from the field in the first half. Cazenovia was 15-of-36 (41.7%) during the first 20 minutes of play.
After the break, Cazenovia began to assert themselves offensively as the Wildcats would take a 62-55 lead with 10:55 remaining after Keith Caiello's good three-pointer. A pair of good free throws from
Devin Jones (Philadelphia, Pa.) would cut the Cazenovia lead to 71-67 with 7:23 remaining in the game.
Abington tried to establish some rhythm on offense, but had a hard time slowing down the Wildcat attack. A pair of good free throws from Cazenovia's Ryan Gavin gave the Wildcats an 85-71 lead with 2:38 remaining in the game.
Dequan Jackson (Philadelphia, Pa.) led Abington with 22 points on 9-of-23 shooting.
Max Alton (Philadelphia, Pa.) and
Devin Jones (Philadelphia, Pa.) each scored 14 points. Jones (Philadelphia, Pa.) also recorded nine rebounds in the game.
Abington (7-15, 6-9 NEAC) finished the game 27-of-65 (41.5%) from the field. They struggled from beyond the arc hitting just 27.6% of their shots on 8-of-29 shooting. Abington committed 11 turnovers in the game.
Cazenovia was led by Ryan Gavin who had 31 points on 9-of-19 shooting. Malik Adair-Mountain, Brad LeFevre, and Nate Hudson all recorded 10 points in the game.
Abington will return to action tomorrow, Sunday, February 15
th, as they will square off against the Morrisville State Mustangs. Game time is scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off.
