Super Seniors
Their scoring touch is important. Their floor presence is vital.
The senior pairing of Kenny Fukon and PJ Gourley are making the most of their extra year of eligibility the pandemic provided. The Butler County natives have been the engine that makes the Penn State Behrend men’s basketball team go.
“We’ve been in a lot of close games and PJ and Kenny have been the difference in every single one of them,” Lions coach Dave Niland said. “Without them, we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in.”
A guard and North Catholic grad, Fukon leads the team with 18.9 points per game. Gourley, a forward who attended Knoch, isn’t far behind, scoring 17.5 per game. Penn State Behrend has benefitted. The Lions are 14-2 and on an 11-game win streak.
“We just play well off of each other,” Fukon said about Gourley. “I think some of the younger guys look for us late in the game, which helps. It’s nice to have someone like him on the floor with me because it just makes the game easier.”
Penn State Behrend has a 9-0 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference record. It’s not an easy feat, according to Gourley.
“There’s not a weak team in our conference,” said Gourley, who ranks in the top five of the league in rebounds per game (8.5), field goal percentage (56.1), 3-point percentage (45.5) and total points (263). “There’s no easy games. We’ve had to stay very focused to not drop one of those games and stay concentrated to keep our minds on the end goal.”
Fukon underwent major hip surgery last year. In actuality, the virus-caused stoppage worked in his favor, being that he than likely that he would have missed that season as it was.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have some really great players here, but he’s definitely someone that stands out in a lot of ways,” Niland said. “From Day One as a freshman, he’s been someone that’s always been a contributor or a major player in the program. He’s as unique a player as I’ve had in 28 years as far as his skill set.”
His Lions won all four of their December fixtures and picked up steam heading into the holiday break. He didn’t kick back and watch Christmas movies while sipping hot chocolate, instead spending his two weeks catching up on lost time.
“That was like my mini-offseason, kind of,” Fukon said. “I really didn’t have an offseason. I wasn’t active at all, as far as basketball activities. It felt good to just be away from the team for a little bit and to work on my game myself. I think that’s helped a lot, heading into the second semester.”
The former Trojan also notched his 1,000th college point against Penn State Altoona on Jan. 15.
“I don’t really like individual stuff that much, but it was pretty cool, because I didn’t even get (to) that in high school,” Fukon said. “It’s probably easier to do in high school, honestly, but I wasn’t able to. I’ve been fortunate enough to play in a lot of games since I’ve been here with a lot of good teammates, so it’s worked out.”
Gourley has been named AMCC Player of the Week twice.
“PJ has been at the college for five years, but, really, this is only his second year of basketball,” Niland said. “He’s been pretty remarkable, which says a lot. He’s battled some injuries since he’s been here. He couldn’t come on the floor until 2019-20.”
In the campaign prior to the pandemic, PJ played 19 games before suffering a season-ending concussion. Without him, the Lions bowed to La Roche in the conference title game.
They seem to be on their way to their fourth straight appearance in the conference final. This time, they’d prefer to come out on the winning end.
“That’s what I feel like I came back for, so it would mean a lot,” Fukon said.
