BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Villa Maria College men's basketball team played two games at home over the weekend starting with the Community College of Beaver County on Friday and then Penn State Shenango on Saturday. Unfortunately, the Vikings were unable to walk away with a win against either opponent and saw their record drop to 1-2 on the young season. The Titans moved to 1-0 with their win against Villa, and Shenango improved to 1-1.
 
Beaver County Titans
 
The first half was close between the two teams with Villa holding a narrow one-point advantage going into the break. Nolan Shephard and Rhalon Bragg each contributed ten points and Shephard was able to grab six rebounds. When the second frame kicked off, Villa kept their deficit to under three points for the first six minutes before going cold from three and falling behind by eight. However, buckets by Zamar Harris, Nick Price and Shephard helped keep that run-in check and gave them a 48-47 lead with 9:42 to go. The advantage was short lived however, and the Titans stormed ahead to take the victory 72-67 over the Vikings.
 
Bragg ended his day with 25 points and five steals. Shephard knocked in 15 points of his own and finished with nine rebounds. Trent Cordone was the only other double-digit scorer with 10 points.
 
Penn State Shenango
 
The Vikings got off to a slow start against Sheanngo, quickly falling behind 27-7 in the opening ten minutes of play. The largest deficit came at the 6:11 mark, when they trailed 36-10. They began to chip away as the half went on, cutting the game to 20 with two minutes left thanks to a Shephard layup and then a three-pointer by Harris and layup by Jeriah Williams cut the score to 41-26 when the break arrived. Coming out the break, Villa implemented their adjustments and continued to fight back. 17 second-half points by Bragg and 12 by Williams, brought the team to within five points, but the comeback fell short as the Vikings fell by a final score of 83-71.
 
Williams finished the game with 21 points and seven rebounds, while Bragg added 19 points and eight boards of his own. Shephard was impressive off the bench adding 15 points and finished with ten rebounds for a double-double.
 
The Vikings will have a chance for revenge on Wednesday, November 10 as the team will travel to Penn State Shenango for their next game.
 
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