State College boys’ basketball falls in Kiwanis Holiday Classic title game

One night removed from capitalizing off missed 3-pointers, pushing the ball in transition, and slowing down the tempo when they wanted, the Little Lions were caught on their heels.

On Tuesday, they were the aggressors. On Wednesday, they were chasing the lead.

State College, after burying Burrell the day prior, fell in a run-and-gun affair to Math, Civics and Sciences Charter School 78-73 in the Kiwanis Holiday Classic championship game.

State College’s Tommy Sekunda scored a game-high 30 points, but most of it was accumulated in catch-up mode. Despite holding a lead after the first quarter, State College spent the majority of the evening in a hole out of which it couldn’t climb.

The digging commenced at the tail-end of the second period.

The Little Lions turned the ball over on their final four possessions of the first half, encouraging MCS to come alive. The Elephants took advantage, going on a 7-0 to finish off the second.

“We got frantic,” State College coach Joe Walker said. “That hurt us going into halftime.”

The Little Lions gave up the lead — and they’d never regain it.

That was due in large part to the Elephants’ shooting from beyond the arc. MCS hit eight 3-pointers, five of which came from guard Malik Archer, who finished with a team-high 22 points.

Elephants coach Dan Jackson was somewhat surprised with Archer’s output. Jackson knows how well the junior can shoot from the perimeter, but said Archer wasn’t feeling well before the game.

He looked fine from behind the arc.

“That’s what he does,” Jackson said.

And Walker was aware of that, noting Archer’s willingness to pull the trigger was in State College’s scouting report.

“He shoots — from anywhere,” Walker said. “It’s not a five-foot cushion. You’re in him, and force him to drive. We didn’t do that.”

Another thing the Little Lions didn’t do was foul the right guy when necessary.

Thanks to Sekunda’s big night and Drew Friberg’s 15 second-half points, State College worked its way back into striking distance.

Hovering around a six-point deficit with a few minutes to go in regulation, the Little Lions had to foul, and Walker said he wanted his players to avoid sending Elephants guard Saheed Peoples to the line.

Peoples went to the line 10 times in the final three minutes, sinking all but one attempt.

Jackson was happy State College kept fouling MCS’ captain.

Walker was not.

“We missed assignments on our press,” State College’s coach said. “We weren’t fouling who we were supposed to.”

On Peoples’ lone miss, Sekunda drove down the court and got to the rim, converting his 12th field goal of the evening. With 12.7 seconds to go, the Elephants’ lead was at four, the lowest it had been since they took that second quarter run.

But it was too late for State College to do anything about it.

The Little Lions dropped to 3-6 on the season, and MCS improved to 5-7.

Walker, while frustrated with how the game played out, commended the efforts of Sekunda and Friberg. The two combined for 96 of State College’s 139 points in its two Kiwanis Holiday Classic games.

Walker will take that production from the duo any night, but hopes the rest of the Little Lions’ offense comes along.

“I just want to spread it around a little bit,” Walker said. “They carried us all tournament ... but we need other guys to have a consistent understanding of their role.”

Notes: After the game, Sekunda, Friberg, Archer, MCS’ Nazir Gossette, Burrell’s Brendan Lettrich and Upper Darby’s Troy Butler were named to the all-tournament team. ... State College plays at home against Harrisburg on Jan. 5.

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 10:38 PM with the headline "State College boys’ basketball falls in Kiwanis Holiday Classic title game."