Photo by Noah Riffe
Photo by Noah Riffe

La Roche Tops Lions 78-56

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Penn State Altoona men's basketball was handed a 78-56 loss by Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent La Roche College on Saturday afternoon at the Kerr Fitness Center.

The Lions (1-6, 0-2 AMCC) got off to a slow start and found themselves trailing 44-24 at halftime.

"We have a lot of work to do. We are not playing up to our abilities right now," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "I have to do a better job of coaching and teaching what we want to do."

Jack Kusters (Quakertown, PA/Lansdale Catholic) and Austin Krise (Allport, PA/West Branch) tied for the team lead in points with eight apiece. Kusters also contributed a team-high three steals, while Krise grabbed three rebounds.

Cameron Gardner-Nicholson (Philadelphia, PA/Boys' Latin Charter), Marshall Higley (Sayre, PA/Sayre), and Richard Dei-Kwarteng (Windsor Hill, MD/Standard of Excellence Academy) added six points each, and Y'shua Bragg (Pittsburgh, PA/Carrick) had five points and a team-high five rebounds.

La Roche (3-1, 2-0 AMCC) got a game-high 15 points from Austin Hannes to go along with 14 points from Zach Gould, 13 points from Kennedy Smith, and 10 points and six boards from Ray Quan Phifer.

After Higley's three-pointer at 15:29 of the first half cut La Roche's lead to 9-6, the Redhawks embarked on a 21-6 run to go up 30-12 by the 6:42 mark. Back-to-back three-pointers by Gould just before halftime set the home team's lead at 44-24 by the intermission.

La Roche continued to maintain a significant lead throughout the second half, en route to the 22-point victory.

Penn State Altoona men's basketball's next game is at home on Wednesday, December 5, when the Lions will host AMCC opponent Pitt-Bradford at 8:00 p.m.