Box Score Junior Trevor Healey (Wethersfield, CT/Wethersfield) posted his fifth double-double and three student-athletes reached double-figures in scoring, but the Keuka College men's basketball team fell to Penn State-Abington 58-55 Saturday afternoon inside the Weed Physical Arts Center.
Healey scored 17 points with 10 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass as Keuka enjoyed an 18-9 edge in offensive rebounds. Healey shot 42.1 percent (8 of 19) while sophomore Casey Williams (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) added 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds, but it wasn't enough for the Storm (5-12, 3-9 NEAC) to overcome the Nittany Lions (10-7, 7-3).
Junior Tyler Hixson (Shortsville, NY/Red Jacket) added 10 points with 5 offensive rebounds and 2 assists and classmate Jared Wagner (Pittsford, NY/McQuaid) tallied 9 points with 8 rebounds and 3 steals for the Green and Gold.
Junior Brandon Franklin (DeWitt, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) contributed 6 rebounds with 4 assists and 3 points for Keuka, which held Abington to just 19.2 percent shooting (5 of 26) in building a 29-22 halftime lead.
Keuka shot 78.6 percent at the free-throw line (11 of 14) while Abington connected on 70 percent at the free-throw line (21 of 30), but made only 52.9 percent in the second half (9 of 17).
Trailing 56-52, Wagner came off a screen, received a pass from Franklin and buried a '3' from the top of the key to trim the Abington lead to one with 1:11 remaining.
But after forcing a turnover, the Storm missed a '3', Max Alton hit a jumper for a three-point lead and the Green and Gold missed a game-tying '3' with two seconds left as Abington earned the win.
Keuka led for most of the first half and took its biggest lead, 21-13 when Williams hit a layup, was fouled and converted the three-point play with 4:48 remaining.
The teams traded baskets and Keuka took a 29-22 halftime lead after Healey went up for a rebound and made the tip-in with 49 seconds remaining. Williams has 12 points and four rebounds, Healey had eight points and Wagner had 6 rebounds, 3 points & 2 steals in the opening half for the Storm.
The Storm's lead swelled to 40-31 on a pair of free throws from Hixson five minutes into the second, and sophomore Miles Boyer (East Rochester, NY/East Rochester) converted a layup for a 44-37 Storm lead with 12 minutes remaining
But Avery Barnes (22 points, 14 rebounds) had back-to-back baskets to fuel Abington on a 12-0 run as the Nittany Lions led 49-44 with 6:56 remaining.
Healey converted a three-point play to draw the Storm within 49-47, but Barnes answered with a jumper and Mike Marvin hit back-to-back layups to give Abington a 55-48 lead with 3:44 remaining.
Healey hit a jumper and a layup to trim the deficit to 55-52 with 2:28 to play, but Keuka couldn't complete the comeback.
The Storm return home to face Gallaudet at 1 p.m. Sunday.