1/9/26
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – Five players scored in double-figures and Lackawanna College men's basketball held on for the 84-78 win against Penn State DuBois on Friday night in nonleague action inside the historic Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium.
 
The Falcons (8-6) got a team-high 17 points from Khalil Kemp (Philadelphia, PA), all off the bench, while Jaksa Pejovic (Podgorica, Montenegro) added 16 points and 12 rebounds. Robert Bell (Willow Grove, PA) scored ten points off the bench, while Jahsan Simms (Hillside, NJ) and David Popson (Wilkes-Barre, PA) each scored eleven for the Falcons. Lackawanna got 40 points off the bench, and the Falcons shot 50% for the game.
 
DuBois (5-10) also had five players in double-figures, led by Hakim Supplee-Reid's game-high 19 points and seven boards. Cole Love had 16 points on four three-pointers, while Nate Cornelius added 14 points and four shots from downtown. Penn State was just 12-for-37 (32.4%) from downtown.
 
The Falcons looked sluggish out of the gate, trading blows with the visitors right up until Simms buried a long three-pointer to put the Falcons up 35-33 at the half. In the second half, Lackawanna extended the lead out to 42-37 less than three minutes in, punctuated by a Pejovic three-ball. DuBois battled back to take the lead with a 6-0 run, and the teams traded the lead back-and-forth over the next few minutes. Elijah Smith (Washington, D.C.) scored through contact with under 12 minutes to go to give the Falcons a 51-50 lead, igniting an 8-2 spurt that put Lackawanna ahead at 57-52 with 10:45 to play.
 
DuBois got within one at 59-58, but another killer run from the Falcons, this time a 10-2 surge, made it 69-60, highlighted by a three-pointer from Kemp and a nifty baseline pass from Pejovic to Latrell Mark (Frederick, MD).
 
The lead ballooned to ten at 75-65 with under five to go, and it got as high as eleven with 3:23 to play when Kemp buried a three in the corner. DuBois closed the gap with one last run, getting within 82-78 with 1:13 to play, but the Lions couldn't hit a shot in the final minute, and the Falcons managed to overcome poor free throw shooting down the stretch to pull out the win.
 
Lackawanna will be back to work this weekend with a home contest against a nationally ranked opponent, as the NJCAA DII #9 Monroe Community College Tribunes come to town for a doubleheader. The men's teams will play first on Sunday, January 11^th, at 12:00pm ET inside the historic Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium, and the women's teams will follow at 2:00pm ET.