Battle-tested Penn College men set for playoffs

The late-season tests experienced by the Pennsylvania College of Technology men’s basketball team may prove beneficial as it enters the United East playoffs on Wednesday.

The Wildcats, seeded 12th, will travel to fifth-seeded St. Mary’s (Md.) College for a 6 p.m. tip-off. Penn College enters with records of 8-17 overall and 6-10 in the UE. St. Mary’s is 14-11 overall and 10-6 in the conference. The winner will face fourth-seeded Keystone College on Saturday in a quarterfinal.
    
“We play a very talented and big St. Mary’s team in the first round of the United East tournament. They are the third-ranked defense in the conference, holding their opponents to 70.3 points per game, led by their bigs who are No. 1 in the conference averaging 5.24 blocked shots per game and fifth-ranked opponent field percentage at 42.6%,” Penn College coach Geoff Hensley said.

“As with every game we play, it will be another tough test for our group. Our team is absolutely battle-tested, having gone through conference play competing with every team we play until the final buzzer went off,” Hensley continued.

St. Mary’s averages 74.6 points per game on offense and is led by 6-foot, 4-inch guard Kyree Smith (16.1 ppg scoring average), while 6-6 forwards Yassine Idrissa and Jake Koverman are averaging 13.5 and 12.8 points, and eight and six rebounds, respectively.

The Wildcats average 74.8 points on offense and allow 78.4. Statistical leaders are seniors Livingston Cross of Union, New Jersey, with scoring-rebound averages of 21.9-13.2, and Gavin Barrett of Roselle, New Jersey, 14.9-5.2.

Penn College is 1-5 lifetime against St. Mary’s. They have not played previously this season.

“This was definitely one of the most exciting seasons in the history of Penn College basketball. In the last month of the season, virtually every game came down to the last few seconds to determine a winner. Despite some very tough losses with games going into overtime and buzzer-beaters, our guys never gave up and continued to play great basketball,” Hensley said.

“We are senior-led, with an experienced group who won a playoff game last season for the first time in our program history. When we combine the experience we have with last year’s playoff success and this year’s conference play, we feel we can beat anyone on any given night,” Hensley said.

In other first-round games on Wednesday, No. 6 Notre Dame (Md.) University hosts No. 11 Penn State Berks, No. 7 Cairn University hosts No. 10 Valley Forge and No. 8 Wilson College hosts No. 9 St. Elizabeth University.

Others in the field who received byes into the quarterfinals are top-seeded Bryn Athyn, second-seeded Penn State Harrisburg and third-seeded Lancaster Bible College.

Final UE regular-season standings (overall records in parentheses): Bryn Athyn 15-1 (17-8), Penn State Harrisburg 13-3 (17-8), Lancaster Bible College 13-3 (18-7), Keystone College 11-5 (13-10), St. Mary’s (Md.) 10-6 (14-11), Notre Dame (Md.) University 10-6 (13-12), Cairn University 9-7 (12-13), Wilson College 9-7 (11-14), St. Elizabeth University 8-8 (10-15), Valley Forge 6-10 (11-14), Penn State Berks 6-10 (7-16), Penn College 6-10 (8-17), Penn State Brandywine 4-12 (7-18), Gallaudet University 3-13 (3-21), Rosemont College 3-13 (5-21), Penn State Abington 2-14 (3-22).

Schedule/Record/Series History
Overall: 8-17
UE: 6-10
Wednesday, Feb. 19 — United East first round at St. Mary’s (Md.) College, 6 p.m. (St. Mary’s leads 5-1)
Saturday, Feb. 22 — Penn College-St. Mary’s winner at Keystone College, TBA

For additional information, visit the Wildcats Athletics website.
For more about the United East, visit the conference website.