Madison, N.J. – The Rosemont College men's basketball team opened up their 2014-2015 season with a 73-71 win over the Nittany Lions of Penn State – Abington this afternoon in the opening game of the Rose City Tournament, hosted at Drew University. Rosemont starts off 1-0, while the Nittany Lions open with an 0-1 record.
The final score was indicative of the closeness of the game overall. PSU-Abington led in the first half several times by as many as 7 points, the latest with 40 seconds left in the half. Rookie Clayton Wolfe drained a three-ball on Rosemont's last possession to pull the Ravens to within 36-32 going into the halftime break.
It took only 1:10 to get even with the Lions, as Khai Roberts sank a trey to put Rosemont behind by only a point, 36-35, and Roberts later made a free throw to knot the game at 36-36. After a PSU-Abington bucket with 17:09 left, Kyle Lafferty hit a shot from downtown to give the Ravens a 39-38 lead with 16:50 left. It was their first taste of the lead since 14 minutes were left in the first half.
The teams wrestled with the lead the next few minutes. With the Ravens trailing 44-43 with 13:22 left, baskets by Nadir Stukes and a breakaway lay-up from Keith Fletcher gave Rosemont a tenuous 47-44 lead with 12:10 left in the game.
The Nittany Lions would continue to make a run at the Ravens, but Rosemont repeatedly held them off. Leading 52-20 with 10 minutes left in the game, the Ravens put together a key 7-0 stretch, punctuated by a trey from Rob Smith, to give them a 59-50 lead with 8:53 left. PSU-Abington refused to quit, but the Ravens were just as stubborn, refusing to give up their hard-earned lead the rest of the way.
Dom Scafidi had a great start to the season, scoring 18 points with 17 rebounds for a double-double. The 17 rebounds tied a Rosemont program record for rebounds in a game. Clayton Wolfe had a good night, too. The rookie scored 13 with 7 boards and 4 assists. Dyshon Pack was effective underneath, snaring 8 rebounds.
Tomorrow the Ravens will face St. Joseph's (Long Island) tomorrow in the championship game of the Rose City Classic. The Eagles defeated the host Rangers 81-79 in overtime to advance to face the Ravens. The Rosemont/St. Joseph's game will start at 6:00pm tomorrow (11/16) at Drew University.
