The PSU men’s basketball team took an early lead in the second half of the game and never looked back as they dominated the Southern Maine Huskies 71-57 in a home contest at Foley Gymnasium on February 9th. The game featured a prolific offense and a physical defense on behalf of the Panthers as they played to a packed house of PSU Superfans clad in white and green. PSU would go in to half with a 7-point lead, but would come alive in the second half by going on an 11-7 run.
Junior Ryan Lambert would pace PSU with a 14-point and 5 assist effort. Adding to the offense was Mike Chergey and Jason O’Keefe who both chipped in 12 points apiece rounding out the top scoring was Tom Dowd with 8 points and a game high 8 rebounds. Eric Hondal would be perfect from the free throw line going 2-2 like Dowd and O’Keefe. Lambert and O’Keefe also chipped in an impressive 7 rebounds apiece with 6 of Lamberts being defensive adding to the overall defensive turnout of the Panthers.
PSU would hold Southern Maine to a paltry 35% shooting and for the 6th time this season would hold a team to under 60 points and impressive feat considering some of the teams that they have played. The also out rebounded USM 49-29 en route to their 14th win of the season as USM would continue their slide to 2-20 overall and a tough 0-11 in league play.
Otis Smith and Luke Pollock would lead the Panthers by chipping in 15 points a piece with John Sewall adding 8 points to the mix. Smith would hit 3 field goals out of the five that he took. Pollock had a solid night from the free throw line going 8-9.
PSU will look ahead to their upcoming game league game against UMass Boston, which will be at home this Saturday. The Panthers are still in the thick of league play with only 3 games separating them from league leader RIC who they will play next Saturday after they play Keene State at Keene next Tuesday.
The next game will be senior game and the team will honor seniors Eric Hondal, Bryan Tracy, Mike Chergey, Bill Stowell and Jason O’Keefe before tip off. UMass Boston is 2-9 in league play and 4-18 overall and are coming off of a tough loss to UMass Dartmouth 92-60. During the game they got off to a fast start, the Panthers will have to play tough throughout the game.