ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team continued to ride its recent wave of momentum into Wednesday night's regular season home finale in the Adler Arena, winning its fifth game in a row with a 98-79 victory over Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Pitt-Greensburg.

The victory capped an historic day for the Penn State Altoona men's basketball program. This morning, the Lions were revealed as being one of the top 10 teams in the NCAA Division III Region VII rankings, marking the first time in program history that the team has been regionally ranked. By the day's end, the Lions had wrapped up their 17th win of the season, tying for the most overall victories in a single season in program history.

Wednesday night's win also assures Penn State Altoona (17-5, 12-2 AMCC) of finishing no worse than the second seed in the upcoming AMCC postseason tournament, which will be the best regular season finish in the conference standings by the team in program history. The top two seeds receive first-round byes, with the number one seed earning hosting privileges for the final two rounds.

"Tonight was a good night to be a Penn State Altoona Lion. Today's win, coupled with our recent regional ranking, has really set this team apart and has added to its already impressive season," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "Highest seed ever, tied for the most wins ever. This team has continued to make me so proud."

McGreal believes that his team has thus far risen to the occasion as the stakes have increased game-by-game down the stretch.

"The thing about it all, though, is that the pressure is continuing to mount, and our words of the day yesterday were 'embrace the pressure' because we knew that these things had put an even bigger target on our backs," McGreal stated. "I was so proud of the guys tonight to come out against a very good, well coached team and basically control from the tip."

Five different Lion scorers finished Wednesday's game in double figures.

Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) tied for the game-high in points with 20, and he added nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Saivon Word (Upper Marlboro, MD/Frederick Douglass) brought 18 points, five rebounds, and a team-high four assists.

PJ Charles (Altoona, PA/Altoona) recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. Alex McClellan (York, PA/West York) contributed 11 points, five rebounds, and two steals, and Varun Ajjarapu (Tampa, FL/Berkeley Prep) also scored 11 points

Pitt-Greensburg (9-13, 7-6 AMCC) got 20 points and a game-high 16 rebounds from Reggie Priah. Jaylen Williams added 19 points for the Bobcats, and JoJo France scored 10 points.

"We had a defensive game plan tonight, and I feel we played it to a tee," said McGreal. "Great job, especially by Alex, of shutting down JoJo tonight. He usually kills us."

Penn State Altoona got the first half off to a strong start, establishing a 14-5 lead by the 13:25 mark. Pitt-Greensburg responded with an 11-0 run from that point, leaping in front 16-14 on Williams' dunk at 10:29.

The Lions regained their lead, and three-pointers from McClellan and Word helped boost it to double digits, 32-22, with five minutes left in the half. Harman's trey with 24 seconds left put Penn State Altoona up 43-32, and Ajjarapu connected on a three at the buzzer to make it 46-32 going into halftime.

A run to start the second half helped the Lions take control for good, as Penn State Altoona outscored Pitt-Greensburg 8-2 over the first two-and-a-half minutes of the period to increase its lead to 20 points, 54-34. Robbie Hicks (Rockledge, FL/Rockledge), Word, Harman, and McClellan contributed layups during the run.

The Lions held Pitt-Greensburg at bay for the rest of the game, maintaining a comfortable cushion in their lead and going up by as many as 25 points.

Penn State Altoona produced over one third of its points from its transition game, outscoring Pitt-Greensburg 36-9 in fastbreak situations. The Lions also held scoring advantages over the Bobcats in points in the paint (56-40), points off of turnovers (19-12), and bench points (28-20).

By the game's end, Penn State Altoona shot 51.4 percent from the field as a team while holding Pitt-Greensburg to a 39.2 field goal percentage.

Now, Penn State Altoona men's basketball will close out its regular season with a pair of important road games, beginning this Saturday, February 12, when the Lions will travel to face Hilbert College at 3:00 p.m.

Following that, the Lions will end their regular season schedule with a big matchup in Erie against Penn State Behrend on Saturday, February 19.

"We still have two extremely tough road games coming up," said McGreal. "We have to stay focused and embrace the pressure."