ALFRED, N.Y. – Penn State Altoona men's basketball came back from a halftime deficit on Monday night to defeat Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Alfred State College in the Orvis Gymnasium.

The Lions (10-4, 6-4 AMCC) trailed by six points at the break, but a 42-25 scoring advantage during the second half helped Penn State Altoona overtake Alfred State (4-12, 2-9 AMCC).

"Very excited to pull out a tough, hard-fought conference road win in a very tough environment and shorthanded, as we rested our leading scorer [Jack Kusters] due to an injury he suffered last game," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "We overcame one of our worst halves of basketball all season. Give a ton of credit to coach [Jerry] Jusianiec and his team, as they came out and took it to us. In the second half, we finally decided to defend and play with the intensity we needed to."

Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) put up a game-high 20 points for the Lions, and he also grabbed eight rebounds and totaled a pair of assists. Austin Krise (Allport, PA/West Branch) scored a season-high 17 points to go along with nine rebounds and two assists. Robbie Hicks (Rockledge, FL/Rockledge) added 16 points and three assists.

"Druw and Aus really led the charge and were aggressive on offense and made things happen to set the tone," said McGreal. "Robbie also got his three ball going again, and his shooting really kept us in the game in the first half."

Cameron Gardner-Nicholson (Philadelphia, PA/Boys' Latin Charter) secured a game-high 12 rebounds while scoring nine points. Trey Butterworth (Clarence, PA/Bald Eagle) tied the game-high mark for assists with four, and he also finished with eight points.

"Big Cam controlled the boards, and Trey had one of his better games of the season, especially in the second half," McGreal added.

Ryan Gentile led Alfred State in scoring with 17 points, and Josh Redding scored 13 points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists.

Alfred State controlled the game for much of the first half, opening the period on an 11-2 run over the first five minutes of play. Brandon Gosley's layup at 12:28 gave the Pioneers a 15-5 lead, and Donte Jones' jumper at 10:12 increased the home team's advantage to 13 points, 21-8.

Penn State Altoona began to pick up the offense in the latter stages of the half to get back in the game. Gardner-Nicholson's layup at 7:57 made it a 10-point game, 26-16, and two free throws and a basket from Harman made it a six-point differential, 26-20, by 6:22. Hicks' three-pointer just over three minutes later narrowed Alfred State's lead to 30-26, and he connected on another trey at 1:09 to cut his team's deficit to two, 33-31.

Alfred State remained on top through the remainder of the half, however. Reding's three-pointer with two seconds left on the clock set the Pioneers' advantage at 41-35 by the intermission.

Alfred State held its ground early in the second half before Penn State Altoona used a 9-0 run to grab its first lead of the evening. Gentile's jumper at 17:56 kept the Pioneers up by six points, 45-39, but the Lions reeled off nine straight points – including a game-tying jump shot from Hicks and go-ahead three-pointer from Krise – to take a 48-45 lead by 14:53.

Two more triples from Krise helped Penn State Altoona boost its lead to 56-47 by 11:09, and Butterworth connected on a three-pointer at 8:33 to increase the Lions' advantage to 10 points, 61-51. Just over one minute later, Butterworth hit another three-pointer to make it 66-52. Baskets from Harman, Krise, and Hicks over the next several minutes extended Penn State Altoona's lead to 74-58 with under five minutes to play.

Free throws by Gentile and Reding helped Alfred State narrow its deficit to 10 points, 74-64, with 2:39 remaining. But Penn State Altoona shut out the Pioneers the rest of the way, adding a layup from Gardner-Nicholson and foul shot from Krise along the way.

With the season sweep of Alfred State and three straight wins under their belts, the Lions will now focus on another big AMCC home game this Wednesday, January 22 at 6:00 p.m. against first place La Roche University.

"We can enjoy our first sweep of the season for the ride home, and then we have to get ready for the top team in the league, La Roche, who comes to our house on Wednesday," McGreal stated. "It's a huge one for us."