PITTSBURGH -- Point Park University men's basketball got the second half of the season going Saturday with an 84-62 victory over Penn State-New Kensington. The Pioneers (8-6) built a 44-24 lead at halftime and broke up their 12-day layoff playing their first game since Dec. 22.
The Pioneers had 12 players see action with all of them scoring and all of them logging at least 13 minutes. Nobody played more than 19 minutes leading into Sunday's matchup at NAIA Division II No. 12 Washington Adventist, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Takoma Park, Md.
Point Park pushed the lead to 30-18 with Garret McHenry coming on strong in the first half. The 6-5 forward had 16 points and 10 rebounds in just 14 minutes of action on the day. He scored 11 in the first half alone and hit a couple of long-rangers to built the double-digit advantage.
The Pioneers' lead moved to 20 points with Kameron Shockley providing an old-fashioned 3-point play followed by 3-pointers from Samuel Koch, Mark Shehady and Jesse Calloway.
Point Park did hit a bit of a lull at the start of the second half as the Lions got within 13 points at 48-35. But the Pioneers got back to work and increased the lead to as high as 28 points, 74-46, thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Doug Alves.
Three Pioneers reached double digits with Sherron Schifino scoring 10 points in 13 minutes. He hit a pair of treys early on, and the Pioneers totaled 11 as a team. Koch totaled 10 points and six rebounds.
Calloway picked up seven points and four assists. Juwan Willis and Alves both posted six points and four assists. Adam Scott collected eight points and nine rebounds.
PSU-New Kensington (1-10) shot just 29 percent the first half to fall behind. The Lions shot 33 percent for the game compared to 40 percent for Point Park. The Pioneers won the rebounds, 51-38.
The matchup with Washington Adventist (13-3) will have live streaming video with the link to available coverage at PointParkSports.com/Live. The Shock are coming off a victory over NCAA Division I Delaware State, their second win over a Division I school on the year.
