Mar 3, 2011 By Mike Ciarochi 4 min read

Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus is the host team in this USCAA National Championship Tournament, but the home teams shot the ball like visitors in their first games of the tournament Wednesday.

The Fayette men fell behind early, came back and hung with Southern Maine, but couldn’t make plays at the end of an 84-73 loss. Earlier, Briarcliffe College topped the Fayette women’s team, 75-57.

The Fayette men fell behind Southern Maine Community College 41-29 at halftime by making only 28.6 of their first-half shots from the field, including making only one of 10 from three-point range. Fayette also converted only eight of 20 free throws in the first 20 minutes.

But the Roaring Lions roared back in the second half, outscoring the Seawolves 13-3 to climb to within two, 44-42 with 16:46 left to play. Fayette stayed close throughout the second half, but got no closer than a 77-73 deficit inside the last minute. Southern Maine scored on a tip-in and Fayette was forced to foul in the last minute.

“We dug ourselves a hole in the first half and just couldn’t get all the way out of it,” Fayette men’s coach Mark A. John said. “Our guys played hard for 40 minutes. The heart and grit these guys displayed was amazing. I’ve never been around a group of guys like that.”

The Fayette men made 54.1 percent of their shots in the second half to get back in the game, but couldn’t quite get over the hump.

“We definitely did not take advantage of the home court,” John said. “When our shots weren’t falling in the first half, we had to start going to the basket. We did that well, but we didn’t make our foul shots, which is very uncharacteristic of us.”

David Winns led Fayette (5-21) with 25 points and added 12 rebounds. Carmichaels’ Ian McCombs scored 16 and pulled 14 rebounds. The Fayette men take on Berkeley College at 1:15 p.m. today in the Main Arena.

“It’s a testament to who they are,” John said. “They battled for rebounds harder tonight than I’ve ever seen them battle. We can finish as high as fifth if we win out. It’s always about the next game.”

Southern Maine (18-11) got 29 points from Coleman Findley and 19 from Josh Mackie. The Seawolves take on the University of Cincinnati-Clermont at 9:30 p.m. today in the Main Arena.

The Fayette women opened the game by missing their first 14 field goal attempts and fell behind 34-23 at halftime, but the Lady Roaring Lions battled back in the second half.

Fayette shot only 20 percent in the first half and increased their accuracy by hitting 41.2 percent in the second half. The local team got to within three points, 44-41, with 11:14 to play, but could get no closer.

“It was hard to overcome our first-half shooting, but we brought it down to three points there midway through the second half,” Fayette women’s coach Kurt Mattern said. “This group plays hard and in the second half, they decided they were going to go at it. We scrapped for every loose ball and got back in the game, but we ran out of gas.”

California High School product Morgan Moluski led Fayette with 13 points and made half of the Lady Roaring Lions eight field goals in the first half. Mapletown’s Kaitlyn Novak added 10 points, while Uniontown’s Jill Guthrie led with 11 rebounds and added nine points.

Briarcliffe (15-5) got a strong game from freshman Jessica Littlem who scored 20 points, had 14 rebounds and seven blocked shots. The Lady Bulldogs meet Robert Morris Springfield at 7 p.m. in the Maltho.

The loss dropped Fayette to 11-17 on the season and into a 3 p.m. game today against Apprentice School.

“Our goal this season was to make it to the Bryce Jordan Center (at Penn State’s Main Campus) and we accomplished that,” Mattern said, referring to his team making the PSUAC semifinals. “This is gravy. We gave our all up there and it’s hard to get it back again. Plus, our best shooter, Kayla Hatfield, rolled an ankle up there and wasn’t effective tonight.”