Lions Conquer Mounties, 97-63
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team proved to be too much to handle for Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference rival Mount Aloysius College on Wednesday night, when the Lions powered to a 97-63 victory over their nearby foe in the Adler Arena.
Penn State Altoona (8-7, 4-1 AMCC) shot 52.0 percent as a team while limiting Mount Aloysius (4-12, 0-5 AMCC) to a 37.5 percent success rate from the floor. The Lions also forced 23 turnovers while racking up 17 steals.
The victory represents Penn State Altoona's fourth conference win, and it is the team's fifth consecutive home win.
"Amazing team win tonight. Everybody who played contributed," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "As we said at halftime, it's a rivalry game, and you throw records out the window. But our guys took the right approach and had the right mindset, and there was no letdown."
Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) led the way for Penn State Altoona, posting game-highs and personal season-highs with 22 points, 12 rebounds, and seven blocks. Saivon Word (Upper Marlboro, MD/Frederick Douglass) totaled 18 points and a team-best four assists, and Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) finished with 14 points, six rebounds, and a game-high six steals.
Jones' total of seven blocks is tied for the second-most in a game in Lions history, while Harman's six steals are tied for the eighth-most.
Nine other players scored for Penn State Altoona, which utilized 13 players in the comfortable win.
"Amazing games by Dwayne, Sai, and Druw. Those guys were the catalysts, and once we got up early, there was no looking back," said McGreal. "As a coach, it's always great when you can play guys who don't get a lot of minutes. They deserve it. They work hard, practice hard, and study film, so it's very rewarding to see guys finish the game the way they did. They earned that time, and every team is only as good as their last man."
Mount Aloysius was led in scoring by Joel Lonigro, who finished with 14 points. Will Hagwood added 13 points, eight rebounds, and five assists for the Mounties, while Ebone Junior chipped in 11 points and eight boards.
Leading by two just over three minutes into the game, Penn State Altoona used layups from Jones, Harman, and Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley) to expand its lead to 16-8. Word's layup at 5:30 increase the Lions' lead to 10 points, 34-24, and Jones' bucket with three minutes to go in the half made it 42-27. Jones made a layup with 30 seconds remaining in the period, and Penn State Altoona went into halftime with a 20-point advantage, 47-27.
The Lions continued to build their lead in the second half. Harman's three-pointer at 11:05 gave the home team a 30-point lead, 67-37, and Jones' layup and foul shot with 4:50 to go increased it to 83-50.
Penn State Altoona led by as many as 35 in the closing moments of the game, and the Lions earned the strong home win.
Penn State Altoona finished the game with significant scoring advantages over Mount Aloysius in points off turnovers (36-11), points in the paint (54-32), second chance points (21-9), fastbreak points (27-10), and bench points (30-15). The Lions outrebounded the visiting team 47-38, and they won the turnover battle by 10.
Now, Penn State Altoona will prepare for a two-game stretch in which the team will face a pair of tough AMCC opponents on the road. This Saturday, January 21, the Lions will travel to Erie to take on Penn State Behrend at 2:00 p.m. After that, the team heads to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, January 25 to face La Roche University at 7:00 p.m.
"Now, we have to get ready for our Achilles' heel in a road game in Erie," said McGreal. "Hopefully, we can continue our momentum and go into the Junker Center with extreme confidence and hopefully come out with a win."
