Jan 20, 2008 By Jonathan Guth For The 3 min read

Despite 24 points from Eric Boyle, Penn State York could not overcome Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, who won 75-66 in a PSUAC contest Saturday afternoon at the Eberly Campus. The Roaring Lions were up two at 31-29 after the first half, but exploded in the second with 44 points.

Cedric Williams and Mike Speelman (Geibel) led the charge in the second half with 13 points apiece.

Boyle kept his team in the game as he scored 16 of his 24 in the second half. Boyle made six field goals and was 4-10 from the foul line.

“(Eric) Boyle did a great job in bringing us back,” York coach Steve Baublitz said. “We did a good job inside, but have to limit the turnovers.”

The first half was a back and forth affair that started with Belle Vernon’s Ray Nickens dropping in the first six points for the Roaring Lions.

Nickens finished the game with 17 points on seven field goals and was 3-5 from the foul line.

“That the game was a back and forth affair is a credit to Penn State York,” Roaring Lions coach Dana Zajicek said.

“They played hard and we had to weather the storm.”

With his team up 17-13, Erik Leech went on a personal 5-0 run to lead 22-13.

Cedric Williams stretched his teams’ lead to 11 at 24-13 with a two-point basket. Williams scored 22 points in the game on nine field goals, including two 3-pointers, and went 2-4 from the line.

With the Roaring Lions (2-5, 2-12) up 28-20, the Lions (0-9, 1-9) responded with a 5-0 run to cut the home teams’ lead to 28-25. The run was capped off by two foul shots from Eric Hudak.

Hudak played a solid first half, scoring eight points on two field goals. In addition to his field goal shooting, he was a perfect 4-4 from the foul line. He finished the game with 13 points.

“We have a lot of freshmen players,” Baublitz said. “We have been playing many teams with older players and it is hard for our guys to respond. In addition, we lost a lot of players from the team we started with.”

Speelman hit a 3-pointer to give the Roaring Lions a 31-25 lead. Speelman finished the game with 20 points.

The Lions responded with Boyle scoring the final four points to cut the Roaring Lions lead to two at 31-29.

“We are not that deep as a team, so it is important to have all our guys step in every game,” Zajicek said. “We missed a lot of opportunities, but Penn State York moved the ball well.”

Next up for Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus will be Monday against Penn State New Kensington.

“It will be a challenge for us,” Zajicek said. “We have to play all conference games from here on.”

Penn State York will host Penn College on Monday.