Men’s Basketball suffers marginal loss to Penn State Shenango

SHARON, Pa. --- Carlow University men's basketball lost a narrow 85-82 contest to Penn State Shenango on the road Tuesday night.

Jordyn Tavarez (New Kensington, Pa./Highlands HS/Penn West Calif.) shot 10 for 15 from the field with four three-pointers to lead the Celtics with 28 points. Tomasi Pavihi (Wellington, New Zealand/St. Mary's Ryken HS/College of Marin) added 18 points, while Jimmy Giannetta (Pittsburgh, Pa./Saint Joseph HS) contributed 14 points, a game-high eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Carlow went ahead 10-4 to start the game and outscored the Lions 12-8 over the next five minutes, culminating with a three-pointer from Braedon Beard (Myersville, Md./Notre Dame of Maryland Univ.) that put the Celtics up 10.

The tide shifted in favor of the Lions, who strung together an 18-8 run to tie the game at 30-all with five minutes remaining in the half.

Shenango outscored Carlow 11-7 the final five minutes of the half to take a four-point lead into intermission.

A layup and a trey from Tavarez put Carlow ahead to start the second half, as the teams traded marginal leads and tied the score twice through the first 10 minutes of action.

A jumper and three free throws gave Shenango a five-point advantage, as the Lions held Carlow scoreless for over three minutes before Pavihi landed a layup to see the Celtics down three.

Shenango maintained the advantage until Adnan Sbai (Harrisburg, Pa./East Pennsboro Area HS) hit a three-pointer to cut the Lions' lead to one with under two minutes remaining in regulation.

Each team scored a bucket, and two free throws put Shenango ahead, 83-80, with less than 30 seconds on the clock. Trailing by one with four seconds to go, the Celtics were forced to foul to regain possession and Shenango's Rhys Grocott hit both. An attempt for a trey at the buzzer fell short and the Lions came away with the win.

Carlow outrebounded Shenango 32-28 and outscored the Lions 38-24 in the paint.

The Lions shot 92.3 percent (12 for 13) from the foul line and held a 15-6 advantage in points off the bench.

Izzy Santiago led the Lions with a game-high 30 points, and four other players contributed double-digit points in the win.

The Celtics travel to Mount Aloysius College for a 7 p.m. game to kick off Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference action Dec. 3.