After jogging his memory, Jason Benson recalled that the most points he scored in a basketball game at Schenley High was 21 points. In junior college, at Penn State New Kensington, he said he once netted 33 points.

Both of those games, however, pale in comparison to what Benson, a 6-3 senior guard at Mansfield University, did on Dec. 28 in a 103-97 loss to West Virginia State, when he scored 53 points.

That point total broke the school record of 47 and was the most by a player at a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference school since Clarion's Kwame Morton scored 56 points against Slippery Rock in 1994.

After junior college, Benson, 22, spent two years at Bloomsburg University (he was a medical redshirt one of the years), before transferring to Mansfield, another NCAA Division II school, for this season.

Benson averaged 15.9 points a game at Bloomsburg last year, but left because he wasn't happy with the new coach, Terry Conrad, who took over for the 2003-2004 season.

At Mansfield, located in Northcentral Pennsylvania, Benson got off to somewhat of a slow start, averaging just 10 points a game the first five games of the season. But, he has averaged 26.4 over the past eight games as the Mountaineers have recorded a 6-7 record. For the season, he's averaging 20.1 a game.

"It took time to get used to new players and a new system," said Benson.

Said Mansfield coach Vince Alexander, "I told him earlier in the season, 'Don't get frustrated. Keep your head up.' He's adjusted. The guys have adjusted to him."

In his 53-point game, Benson connected on 19 of 26 shots from the floor, including 6 of 8 from 3-point range. He was 9 for 12 from the free-throw line.

"Jason is difficult to stop in the open court, coming at you full speed," said Alexander. "He leads the [PSAC] league in free-throw attempts with 84. He gets to the line. He can shoot the 3 [pointer].

"You have to play him as a shooter and a driver. That makes him very difficult to defend."

Benson wasn't a big scorer in high school. He played on a Schenley team his senior year (1999-2000) with three future Division I players -- 6-9 Nate Gerwig (Kent State), Jack Higgins (Duquesne) and Chaz McCrommon (Robert Morris) -- and wasn't looked upon to score. That Schenley team went 26-0, but then lost in the City title game to Peabody and suffered an overtime loss in the first round of the state playoffs to Uniontown.

"There were so many good players at Schenley, I didn't have to score," said Benson, an East Liberty resident. "But when I went to Penn State New Kensington [for junior college] I became the go-to guy. I gained a lot of confidence."

In his last eight games at Mansfield, Benson has scored 32, 23, 28, 22, 53, 31, 13 and 9 points. Obviously, Benson is a "go-to guy" at Mansfield, too.

Alexander ranks Benson as one of the top five players in the 14-team Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

The Mansfield coach said his slick guard's reputation as a star player should grow this season because of the Mountaineers' up-tempo, running style of play. Bloomsburg used more of controlled offense. Last season, Mansfield led the PSAC in scoring offense at 82 points per game. They are near the top again this season at 82.5 a game. Bloomsburg (6-21) was 10th a year ago at 68.5 a game.

Alexander said while he isn't expecting 53 points every night from Benson, he is looking for a lot of 25-point nights.

"That's what we expect from him," said Alexander. "I think the team has accepted him, embraced him.

"They know they have to get him the ball in the open court. They look for him."