Beaver Falls to Grove City

Monaca, PA – Lions drop a tight game to Grove City.

Coming off of a big win on Sunday at Southern Maine Community College, the Men's Basketball team played host to Division III, Grove City College tonight. 

Beaver opened the  game on 2 jump shots by sophomore, G.J. Boykin (Aliquippa, PA/Aliquippa) to take an early 4-0 lead.  Beaver would continue to build on their lead through the first 4 minutes of the game, gaining a 6-point (11-5) lead on a disciplined and physical Grove City team. Over the next 2 minutes of play, both teams were exchanging jump shots, but a foul and two turnovers would cost Beaver the lead as they allowed Grove City to tie the game, 16-16, at the 12:54 mark.  On the next play, the Wolverines would take their first lead of the game (18-16) and eventually take their own 5-point lead at the 9:51 mark (24-19).  That seemed to spark the Lion offense as they rallied to regain the lead on a Lamont Wright (Pittsburgh, PA/Penn Hills) jump shot followed by an Eric Gallupe (Sewickley, Pa / Avonworth) 4-point play after he was fouled on a 3-point shot.   In the remaining eight minutes in the first half, the lead would change 6 times before Beaver took a 3-point lead into the half (43-40).

To open the second half, Grove City quickly regained the lead on two consecutive jump shots, but just as in the first half, Beaver was quick to respond to the offensive pressure with Boykin making a 6-point run to give Beaver a small cushion.  Beaver would then hold the lead for next 14 minutes, taking the lead by 6 at two different points, at 9:25 (63-57) and again at 4:43 (71-65).  At the 3:30 mark, a 3-point shot by the Wolverines sparked their offense as they went on a 7-point run to take the lead with 1:44 to play in the game.  In the remaining time, the game would see 3 lead changes with the last coming with 1.5 seconds to play as Beaver would fall on 2 made free throw attempts by Grove City making the final score 76-75.

Leading Beaver's offensive efforts were Wright with 19 points and Boykin with 17.  Defensively, it was Marcus Smith (Pittsburgh, PA/Perry) with 6 steals who rallied Beaver to stay tough against a big Grove City line-up. 

Beaver will return to action after the Thanksgiving break when they play host to Penn State Dubois to open conference play on December 1^st at 8:00 p.m.