PSUD Men open season with win over Pitt-Titusville

Photo of freshman - Khalil Hopson

story courtsey of Courier Express

DuBOIS — The Penn State University DuBois mens basketball team opened the 2013-14 season with a 95-73 win over the University of Pittsburgh at Titusville Monday in DuBois.

The Lions led 45-37 at halftime behind 17 points from freshman forward Sam Roselli, a former standout at Ridgway.

Roselli was the beneficiary of good passing from two freshmen guards — Khalil Hopson, a Sharon product, and Corey Ciccarelli, who played at Titusville.

Hopson had four assists at halftime while Ciccarelli had three.

"That's helpful when you can shoot a bunch of layups," PSU-DuBois head coach Dave Bennett said. "We ran the floor well, Roselli got a lot of good looks, Hopson did a good job when he got in transition and did well getting to the basket.

"I was extremely happy with our rebounding, which really allowed us to get out and run. Our decision-making was not the best and we have a ways to go there."

The Lions won the battle of the boards in dominating fashion, 55-29. But they did commit 17 turnovers while Pitt had just nine.

Roselli had 10 first-half rebounds and Ciccarelli six to help PSU-DuBois control the boards 26-13. Roselli made 8 of 14 shots while his teammates struggled a considerably more, making 7 of 24.

DuBois also enjoyed a big night at the line. The Lions made 13 of 19 from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes while Pitt was 8 of 13. For the game, DuBois made 27 of 36 while Pitt was 14 of 27.

Hopson hit 6 of 8 from the line while scoring eight points. Marshaun Hyman made 3 of 4 and had seven in the half. 

The Lions kept running and gunning with great effectiveness in the second half as they built their lead to as many as 23 points, 79-56.

Hyman, Hopson and Roselli continued to lead the offensive charge.

Hopson scored on a fastbreak, then buried a 3-pointer and followed with a dish to Roselli for another layup to make it 54-43 with 16:02 left.

Titusville cut it to seven points, 54-47, but then the Lions used a 6-2 run to make it an 11-point game.

After a timeout with 12:37 left and the Lions leading 60-51, they scored the next 10 points in a span of 2:30 to build a 19-point lead.

Hyman and Roselli got the run going with back-to-back layups in transition. The two got the next two layups, then Ciccarelli got a fastbreak layup to make it 70-51.

Hopson, who had eight first-half points, exploded for 25 in the second half to finish with a game-high 33. Hopson was 14 of 18 from the free throw line, grabbed nine rebounds and added four assists.

Roselli scored 23 points on 11 of 17 shooting from the field and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.

Hyman finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and two assists. Kyle Mills had nine points while DuBois Central Catholic grad Jeremy Johnson scored three points.

The Lions return to action Saturday at Clarion University with a 1 p.m. tipoff.