MONACA — One torn ACL, then the other.

Neither has derailed Slippery Rock High graduate Billy Stoughton from his ultimate goal: being part of a national championship basketball team.

Stoughton and former Slippery Rock teammate Matt Shearer have a chance to realize that goal as members of the Penn State-Beaver basketball team.

PSU-Beaver (22-6) recently won the Penn State University Athletic Conference Tournament and will compete in the U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association nationals this week in Uniontown.

The USCAA is a Division III-caliber organization for schools with enrollments of less than 1,500 students.

Stoughton tore the ACL in one knee while playing intramural basketball at Slippery Rock University two years ago.

"I tried out for basketball (at SRU) and didn't make it," Stoughton said. "My high school coach (Sean Strickland) helped me put together a tape to send out because I decided I still wanted to play."

Still recovering from his injury, Stoughton wound up at Penn State-Beaver and returned to the court in December 2007. He averaged 20 minutes per game and was one of only two players on the team with a positive assist-to-turnover ratio.

Despite having Hopewell graduate Zach Fetchin, the USCAA's leading scorer, PSU-Beaver struggled to a 7-20 record a year ago.

"We were too focused and geared toward one guy," Stoughton said. "This year, we added balance and a whole lot of defense."

Unfortunately, Stoughton added another torn ACL — this one in his other knee — on Jan. 31. He ranked second in the USCAA in 3-point shooting percentage, sinking 34 of 71 shots from beyond the arc, at the time of the injury.

"Billy was having a tremendous year, feeling comfortable and playing extremely well," PSU-Beaver coach Marcess Williams said. "The entire team felt sick for him.

"Yet he's still been there. Billy's on the bench every game. He's there at every practice. He's become another assistant coach."

Stoughton plans to return to action next year. He wouldn't mind getting the national championship this year."

He was influential in getting Shearer, a freshman forward averaging six rebounds per game, to join him at PSU-Beaver.

"I looked up to Billy in high school and I look up to him here," Shearer said. "When they recruited me, I talked to Billy and he convinced me of the talent that was here."

Shearer considered Westminster, Geneva and Penn State-Behrend before deciding to rejoin his high school teammate.

"I want to be there for my teammates," Stoughton said of maintaining a presence in the program after his second ACL tear. "I'm still part of the team and I can see things from the bench that I couldn't see as a player.

"Sitting on the bench at the Bryce Jordan Center, watching my teammates celebrate a championship on that floor, ... it was one of the hardest things I've had to go through."

Stoughton was averaging 10 points per game at the time of his injury. Shearer has scored as many as 10 points in a game, but his board work is more critical.

"We have a bunch of guys who can score," Williams said. "Matt cleans up the offensive and defensive glass very well. He has a nice jump shot when we need it."

PSU-Beaver is seeded No. 2 in the national tournament.

"I knew when I came here this team had a lot of talent," Shearer said. "Everybody's meshed well. We get along together and play well together."