Penn College basketball coaches reflect

In another busy week, the Pennsylvania College of Technology men’s basketball team closed out its season while its wrestling, men’s lacrosse, archery, and esports teams saw action — and a new women’s volleyball coach was named.

Highlighting this week’s schedule, wrestlers will compete Friday and Saturday in the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championship at Rochester, New York, while the baseball team is scheduled to open on Thursday at Elmira College. Previews for both of those squads will be forthcoming.

MEN’S BASKETBALL
Seeded fourth in the United East Conference Volt Division, Penn College gave top-seeded Penn State Harrisburg all it could handle for most of Monday’s semifinal game before the Lions pulled away for a 92-79 win.

The Wildcats led by five twice, but the first half resulted in a 47-47 standoff after more than a dozen lead changes and four ties. During the half, Livingston Cross of Union, New Jersey, led the offense with 17 of his team-high 26 points.

Harrisburg took the early second-half lead and increased it to nine at 63-54 with 14:53 left before Penn College went on a 14-0 run over the next four minutes to go ahead 68-63.

Down the stretch, with starters Gavin Barrett of Roselle, New Jersey, and Ronn Flood Jr. of Union, New Jersey, and reserve Landon Reeder of Montoursville each saddled with four fouls, the Lions, behind Donyae Baylor-Carroll, who ended with 42 points, used a 29-11 finish to close things out.

Barrett and Reeder both scored 15 points, and Flood added 12 points.

“Our team was focused and ready for the moment. We knew what was at stake, and we were prepared for it. Our young men rose to the challenge and played a heck of a basketball game. We battled and fought and gave it everything we could. We just came up short those last three minutes of the game, and that ended up being the difference. We had several guys in foul trouble, which caused defensive assignments to switch, and offensively, we didn’t hit the shots we needed to,” coach Geoff Hensley said.

“Penn State Harrisburg has very good players with a championship pedigree, and I thought our guys played outstandingly, going up against the odds. Barrett proved he is the best player in the conference with his outstanding play and leadership, while Cross had a breakout season surpassing several all-conference level players,” Hensley said.  

Cross, a junior who had 15 double-doubles this year, led the team with 543 points and 273 rebounds. He has scored 692 points in two seasons and has 342 rebounds.

Barrett, also a junior, scored 439 points and had 134 rebounds. He has scored 1,157 career points and has had six triple-doubles. Barrett was named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Division III National Player of the Week for the period ending Feb. 18 and also was named United East Volt Division Offensive Player of the Week.

“It was a year to remember with back-to-back 10-win seasons along with hosting and winning the first-ever United East playoff game in men’s basketball history. We have a great group of young men, and I’m very proud of them for sticking together and continuously improving every practice and game. We were playing our best basketball of the season these last few weeks and competed with every team we played,” the coach said.

“David Brown of Bridgeport, Connecticut, is our one senior who has been part of the foundation for the last five years. He worked his way into the starting lineup this year and had several big games that led to some key wins for us. He is the embodiment of what this program is about — hard worker, high-class character, unselfish and committed. He gave us everything and we will miss him,” Hensley said.

“As when every season ends, a new one begins. It’s a bittersweet feeling, with the sad feeling of the season being over, yet excited and optimistic for the future,” Hensley said. “We return four of our five starters, including our first three subs off the bench with Reeder, Christian Chandler of Chesapeake, Virginia, and Michael Woolridge of Hollidaysburg. With the addition of another great recruiting class, we hope to continue the upward trend of this basketball program and take it to even higher heights. There has been such growth over the last three years that it’s remarkable to think of what next year could become.

“We are very thankful and appreciative of all the support we receive from the college and the local community. It truly takes a village, and we would not be here today if it wasn’t for all the support of others.”  

Schedule/Results
Final overall record: 10-16
Final UE record: 7-7 (6-6 regular season)
Monday, Feb. 19 — Volt Division Semifinals at Penn State Harrisburg, L, 92-79

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
During the team’s 6-20 overall and 2-11 UE season, junior Rachel Teats of Middleburg led the team with 310 points and has 847 career points. Teats also led the Wildcats with 139 rebounds. Emily Pardee of Williamsport scored 200 points and Lexi Troup of Huntingdon scored 183. Mia Patterson of Loyalsock Township was second in rebounds with 137.

Reflecting on her team’s season that ended in the first round of the UE Volt Division playoffs for the second year in a row, coach Britni Mohney said, “There is a lot for us to build off of from this season of challenges and learning. We are returning 85% of our scoring, especially through Teats, Pardee and Troup. We are looking forward to greater impacts next season from first-year players Keeley Baker of Lewisburg, Patterson, and Kenni Galbreath of Shrewsbury. Through this season, we learned that we have to start being proactive instead of reactive in our play and make the opponents play our game and not be taken out of our system.  

“Controlling our turnovers to provide us with more opportunities to score is a big factor in our offense that has to improve for next season. Along with rebounding, we allowed too many second-chance opportunities. Looking at our stat sheet for the season these were the two areas that opponents scored their most points. (They are) two areas we can control and we look to work on in the offseason.

“Our future looks strong and promising with our returning cast. We look forward to building with stronger recruits and players who are embracing the system and culture that we have built here. We are going to rely heavily on our leadership council to hold each other accountable during the offseason. The only thing we can do now is look forward and learn from our past and make better habits to change the outcome of our next season.”  

Schedule
Final overall record: 6-20
Final UE record: 2-11 (2-10 regular season)

WRESTLING
Penn College 285-pounder Nicholai Brotzman of Marietta recorded his 20th pin of the season to close out the scoring Saturday in a 24-20 regular-season-ending home loss to Marymount University. Both teams won five bouts, but Marymount picked up two falls and a key win by forfeit at 184 to pull out the team win.

Also last week, four Wildcats earned spots on the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference honors as Noah Hunt of Muncy, a junior, was named to the first team after claiming the 141-pound AMCC title on Feb. 10 and earning second-team honors were freshmen Luke Heimbach of Boyertown (125) and TJ Martin of Honesdale (149) and junior Patrick Snoke of Northampton (141).

Schedule/Results/Series History
Final overall dual record: 9-12
Saturday, Feb. 24 — host Marymount University, L, 24-20
Friday-Saturday, March 1-2 — NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championship at Rochester, N.Y., 10 a.m.

MEN’S LACROSSE
In its home opener on Wednesday, Penn College trailed Westminster by five goals, 6-1, in the second period but fought its way back to knot the score at 8-all in the fourth quarter before losing, 10-9. Devin Page of Pine City, New York, led the Wildcats with four goals. Jake Small of Bloomsbury, New Jersey, added a goal and had two assists.

Hosting Montclair State on Saturday, Penn College dropped a 16-6 decision. Six Wildcats reached the scoring column, with Aidan McFalls of Gilbertsville the only one to have both a goal and an assist.

Schedule/Record/Series History
Overall record: 0-3
UE record: 0-0
Wednesday, Feb. 21 — host Westminster College, L, 10-9
Saturday, Feb. 24 — host Montclair State, L, 16-6
Sunday, March 3 — at William Peace University, 1:30 p.m. (first-time opponent)
Wednesday, March 6 — at Greensboro College, 1 p.m. (first-time opponent)

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Kyle Hawk was named the head coach, it was announced on Thursday.

Hawk previously spent three years as a volunteer assistant coach at Bloomsburg University, where he assisted with the day-to-day operations, practice plans and recruiting. Hawk helped lead the Huskies to an appearance in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference quarterfinals in the program’s fourth year of varsity competition.

He started his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Virginia State University from 2015-16 and was a Wisetown Volleyball Club coach for the 17U and 18U girls teams in Berwick from 2021-22.

ARCHERY
Schedule
Friday-Sunday, Feb. 23-25 — USA Archery Indoor Nationals at Harrisonburg, Va.

BASEBALL
Schedule/Record/Series History
Overall: 0-0
UE Volt Division: 0-0
Thursday, Feb. 28 — at Elmira College, 1 p.m. (Penn College leads 3-1)
Spring Break at Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Sunday, March 3 — vs. Hilbert College, 12:30 p.m. (Penn College leads 3-1)
Monday, March 4 — vs. Eastern Nazarene College (2), 9 a.m. and noon (first-time opponent)
Tuesday, March 5 — vs. Penn State DuBois, 9 a.m. (PS DuBois leads 2-1)
Tuesday, March 5 — vs.  Westminster College, 12:30 p.m. (first-time opponent)

SOFTBALL
Schedule/Record/Series History
Overall: 0-0
UE Volt Division: 0-0
Fast Pitch Dreams Classic at North Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Monday, March 4 — vs. Immaculata University, 11 a.m. (Immaculata leads 1-0)
Monday, March 4 — vs. Delaware Valley University, 3 p.m. (Penn College leads 1-0)
Tuesday, March 5 — vs. Centenary University, 11 a.m. (first-time opponent)
Tuesday, March 5 — vs. Eastern Nazarene College, 1 p.m. (first-time opponent)

ESPORTS
(All events at Wildcat Den)
Schedule/Results
iRacing
CIL Cup Series
Monday, Feb. 19 — Freedom 250-Daytona, 17, 18 and 23
Monday, Feb. 26 — Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 8 p.m.
Monday, March 4 — Las Vegas, 8 p.m.

CIL Formula World Championship
Wednesday, Feb. 21 — Italy-Imola, 12
Wednesday, Feb. 28 — Canada-Montreal, 8 p.m.
Wednesday, March 6 — US-Circuit of the Americas, 8 p.m.

Rocket League Varsity
Overall record: 2-0
Monday, Feb. 26 — vs. Lebanon Valley College, 7 p.m.
Monday, March 4 — vs. Kettering University, 7 p.m.
Monday, March 11 — vs. Minnesota State-Mankato, 7 p.m.

Overwatch 2
Overall record: 3-0
Tuesday, Feb. 20 — vs. Highland Community College, W, 3-0 (2-0, 3-2, 3-0)
Tuesday, Feb. 27 — vs. DePaul University, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, March 5 — vs. Concordia College, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, March 12 — vs. Dallas Baptist University, 7 p.m.

Valorant
Overall record: 2-1
Wednesday, Feb. 21 — vs. Purdue Fort Wayne, W, 2-1 (13-9, 2-13, 13-7)
Wednesday, Feb. 28 — vs. North Dakota State, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, March 6 — vs. Texas A&M-San Antonio, 7 p.m.

Counter Strike 2
Overall record: 1-1
Friday, March 1 — vs. North Carolina State, 7 p.m.
Friday, March 8 — vs. George Mason University, 7 p.m.

League of Legends
Overall record: 0-0
Tuesday, March 5 — vs. TBA, 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 7 — vs. TBA, 7 p.m.

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