by McKenzie Quirin

AURORA, N.Y. – On the road, the Penn State Altoona men's basketball team finished its Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference schedule for December as they topped Wells College, 86-59, Saturday afternoon at Frances Tarlton Farenthold Athletics Wing.

Penn State Altoona (4-5, 3-1 AMCC) got out to a steady 14-point lead by the end of the first half, establishing a 35-21 advantage going into halftime. The Lions were able to hold their lead in the second half, overpowering Wells College (1-9, 0-4 AMCC) by going ahead by as many as 28 points to seal the victory.

"Proud of how this team has responded this week," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "Winning on the road in conference is always tough, but our defense traveled well today, and that made all the difference."

Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) led the Lions in points with 24, his fifth double-digit point total of the season. His day included 17 rebounds, a career high, as well as five blocks, one assist and three steals. Jones' double-double is his fourth of the season.

Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) and Justin Sheetz (Eldersburg, MD/Liberty) ended the afternoon with 16 points apiece, with Claar recording four rebounds and Sheetz having one rebound, two assists and two steals. Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley) concluded the Lions' double-digit scorers, putting up 13 points while also grabbing 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the year.

Wells' Chase Welch led the Express in points with 16, as well as one rebound, three assists and two steals. Ivan Oduro-Dompreh and Terrance Clayton-Murphy also contributed to Wells' double-digit scorers with 10 and 16 points, respectively.

The Lions started the game with a 2-0 lead early in the first half, exactly 58 seconds in, from a Bush layup. Their lead was cut short when Welch got the scoring started for the Express by making a jump shot to tie the score 31 seconds later. Penn State Altoona was able to add two to their score to take the lead, 4-2, from Jones's first layup. For the next minute, both the Lions and Express went back-and-forth, exchanging a three-pointer for Wells, a layup for the Lions and a layup for Wells.

Bush put in his second layup of the game to extend Penn State Altoona's lead to 8-7, giving them a one-point advantage. Continuing to maximize on offense, Wells managed to gain a lead of 10-8 from Welch's second three-pointer of the afternoon. As time neared the halfway mark of the first, Sheetz got on the board for the Lions, as he made a layup to give Penn State Altoona a tie game, 10-10.

The rest of the first half was all Lions offensively, as they outscored the Express 25-11 over the rest of the period to create a 14-point lead by halftime. Penn State Altoona's scoring consisted of three free throws by Bush, a dunk, two layups and one jump shot from Jones, a layup and a three-pointer from Michael Baskerville (Damascus, MD/Damascus), a three-pointer from Aidan Goodwin (Norwalk, OH/Monroeville) and two layups and a jump shot from Sheetz.

Coming off halftime, Wells got the first score of the second half when Oduro-Dompreh put in a layup 21 seconds in, but Bush connected on a three-point jump shot to put the Express' deficit at 15 points, 38-23. A layup from Jones added to Penn State Altoona's already-growing lead, increasing it to 17 points, 40-23. After the Lions went up by 21 following a Bush three-pointer, the Express were able to cut Penn State Altoona's lead to 48-31 at the 15:10 mark.

A layup for Wells got them to within 15, 48-33, but Penn State Altoona's offense took over from there. Four three-pointers from Claar helped get the Lions' lead back to 21 points, 62-41, with 9:12 remaining. Late baskets by Caleb Pierce (Altoona, PA/Altoona) and Kevin Woodland, Jr. (Great Mills, MD/Great Mills) gave Penn State Altoona a 27-point edge, 83-56, score with 2:01 left in the second half. Woodland's three-pointer at 1:09 gave the Lions their largest lead of the game, 86-58, and they were able to secure the win by a final score of 86-59.

Penn State Altoona men's basketball returns home on Wednesday, December 20 at 5 p.m. to play against non-conference opponent York College (Pa.) at Adler Arena.