ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team played its first home game of the 2023-24 season on Saturday afternoon in Adler Arena, but the Lions' home-opening festivities were spoiled by Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference foe Hilbert College, which came from behind to defeat the home team 96-89 in overtime.

Penn State Altoona (2-5, 1-1 AMCC) led by as many as 16 points during the second half, and the Lions seemed poised for victory when they held a 10-point advantage with 39 seconds remaining in the game. But Hilbert (6-2, 2-0 AMCC) mounted a furious comeback and tied the score on a buzzer-beating three-pointer that sent the contest to overtime. The Hawks outscored Penn State Altoona 17-10 in overtime to escape with a seven-point win.

Jahmar White (Yigo, Guam/St. Paul Christian School) scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Lions in scoring. Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) finished with 19 points while recording team-highs with nine rebounds and three blocks.

Justin Sheetz (Eldersburg, MD/Liberty) tallied a career-best 17 points for Penn State Altoona, and Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley) had 14 points to go along with seven rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

Hilbert's Edward Perez led all scorers with 26 points, while Eric Jackson scored 17. Quran Briggs finished with 14 points, including the game-tying three-pointer as time expired in regulation.

Penn State Altoona built a 10-point lead by halftime, getting out to a strong start offensively while limiting Hilbert to a 30.6 percent success rate from the floor.

The Lions outscored the Hawks 11-2 over the first four minutes of the game, including getting seven points from White during that span. Hilbert pushed back to tie the score at 20 by the 10:32 mark, but the Lions answered with a Bush three-pointer, Michael Baskerville (Damascus, MD/Damascus) layup, and Jones dunk to regain the lead, 27-20, by 7:50. A White three-pointer and layups from Sheetz and Jones boosted Penn State Altoona's lead to 10 points, 34-24, and another Jones slam made it an 11-point game, 36-25, by the 5:24 mark. Braelen Cage (Lorton, VA/Hayfield Secondary) connected on a three-pointer at 2:46 to give Penn State Altoona a 41-27 advantage.

Hilbert lowered its deficit to 10 by the intermission, following two Ronnie Lewis free throws and a Jackson layup that set the halftime score at 41-31.

Penn State Altoona continued to maintain a comfortable lead for much of the second half. A layup by Sheetz just over four minutes into the period put the Lions' advantage at 51-37, and Bush's putback bucket at 15:29 gave his team its largest lead of the day, 53-37. Hilbert whittled away at the score differential over the next several minutes, but Penn State Altoona still led by double digits following a Bush layup that made it 63-52 with nine minutes to go.

After that, Hilbert embarked on an 11-2 run, capped by a Perez basket at 6:03 which cut Penn State Altoona's lead to two, 65-63. Another layup from Perez kept the difference at two points, 69-67, with 2:48 on the clock. But Penn State Altoona responded by scoring the next seven points, as White made two free throws and a layup and Sheetz hit from three-point range. After a Briggs foul shot, White made two more from the charity stripe to give the Lions a 10-point advantage, 78-68, with 39 seconds left.

10 seconds later, Hilbert's Nathan Moore made a three-pointer to bring the Hawks' deficit back into single digits, and a Lions' turnover resulted in a Jahmel Demery layup that cut the home team's lead to five, 78-73, by the 23-second mark. Briggs' three-pointer on Hilbert's next possession made it a two-point game, 78-76, with seven seconds remaining.

Baskerville added a free throw to Penn State Altoona's total following a quick foul, setting the score at 79-76 with six seconds left. But Hilbert came up big again in the final possession of the period, when Briggs banked in a deep three-pointer as time expired to knot the score at 79-79 and send the game to overtime.

Penn State Altoona regrouped to reestablish its lead early in the overtime period. Two Bush foul shots and a pair of White jumpers helped the Lions to an 85-82 advantage one-and-a-half minutes into the extra session. A pair of free throws by Jones at 2:48 kept the home team's lead at three, 87-84.

But Hilbert countered with a three-pointer from Jackson to tie the score at 87, and Perez's three-pointer at 1:34 gave the Hawks their first lead of the game, 90-87. A layup and three foul shots from Perez extended the visitors' advantage to 95-87 with 20 seconds left, and Hilbert went on to secure its second conference win of the season.

Next up, Penn State Altoona will host nearby AMCC rival Mount Aloysius College on Wednesday, December 6 at 7:30 p.m.