Playing for Penn State dream come true for O’Boyle

May 6—Leo O’Boyle called it a dream come true and an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

Earlier this week, the former Scranton Prep and Lafayette College basketball standout announced he will play his fifth year of eligibility at Penn State University.

He is the third former Lackawanna League basketball player to head to Happy Valley since the fall. Dunmore’s Moriah Murray and Riverside’s Kylie Lavelle also transferred.

O’Boyle and Murray were 2019 Times-Tribune All-Region selections with Murray being the girls player of the year. O’Boyle was the Times-Tribune Male Athlete of the Year in 2019.

“It’s interesting to see all these players putting in this hard work and taking that next step, getting to that next level. It’s awesome,” O’Brien said. “It’s great for myself and those two girls to do it. Hopefully, it inspires young kids to keep working hard. Anything is possible. Who ever thought I’d be at Penn State one day? It’s something I wouldn’t have dreamed of. But you can do anything if you put your head to it.”

At the beginning of the season, O’Boyle entered the NCAA transfer portal on the advice of then-Lafayette head coach Mike Jordan since Lafayette does not have a graduate school.

O’Boyle said he garnered interest from some mid-major schools, one of which was Virginia Commonwealth University and head coach Mike Rhoades.

When Rhoades left VCU to become Penn State’s coach, replacing Micah Shrewsberry, who departed to become head coach at Notre Dame, O’Boyle was a bit upset, thinking an opportunity had by-passed him. But Rhoades and his staff didn’t forget about O’Boyle and offered him a scholarship to Penn State.

“I kind of kept everything to myself because it was a stressful process,” O’Boyle said. “A bunch of schools in the CAA and mid-major conferences were recruiting me. I didn’t really like anything too much, so it was going to be an interesting decision. Then when Penn State called, it’s my home state school, close to home, everyone can get there. It was a yes decision automatically.”

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Making sure his family could come see him play was a big factor in the process.

“I’ve been so close to home for four years,” O’Boyle said. “You have to take that family aspect into account. If I was to go to school six, seven hours away, my family wouldn’t get to many of those games. That means a lot to them that I can stay close to home.”

Penn State finished the season strong, reaching the Big Ten tournament final and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

At Lafayette, O’Boyle played 109 games with 88 starts, scoring 1,027 career points. His 196 3-pointers ranks ninth on the program’s all-time list. This season, as co-captain, he led the team with 11.6 points and helped Lafayette reach the Patriot League tournament final, where it lost to Colgate.

A government and law major, O’Boyle will graduate from Lafayette on May 20.

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