ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team entered Saturday afternoon's home game against first-place Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent La Roche University needing a win to make the postseason, and the Lions delivered with an 80-73 victory on Senior Day over the visiting Redhawks.

With its win, Penn State Altoona (10-15, 9-9 AMCC) secured the sixth and final seed in next week's AMCC Tournament, and the Lions will travel to face third seed Alfred State College in a first-round game on Tuesday, February 20 at 7 p.m. La Roche (15-10, 14-4 AMCC) came into Saturday having already locked up the top seed in the conference, and the Redhawks will host the AMCC final four on their home court next weekend following a first-round bye.

Prior to Saturday's game, which was the Lions' regular season finale, Penn State Altoona recognized its four senior players: forward Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley), center Jarrett Gardner (Live Oak, FL/Suwannee), and guards Chris Jarosz (Toronto, ON/Andrews Osborne Academy) and Alex McClellan (York, PA/West York).

In addition to clinching an AMCC Tournament berth and sending the team's seniors out on a winning note in their final game in Adler Arena, the victory was also significant for Lions head coach David McGreal, as the win represented the 100th of his career with the Penn State Altoona men's basketball program.

"Very happy for the senior class to go out with a win. They deserve nothing less for the legacy they helped build here at Penn State Altoona," said McGreal. "Obviously, there was extra incentive to win for us to make the playoffs, and getting this personal career milestone is great. But all in all, I'm most happy for these seniors. In the last time they'll play in Adler, we were able to get a huge win against one of the powerhouses of our league."

After trailing early in Saturday's game, Penn State Altoona worked its way in front, leading 37-32 at halftime and going up by as many as 12 points during the second half. The Lions were able to maintain a steady lead over the Redhawks, thanks to a defensive effort that limited La Roche to a 37.1 percent field goal percentage in the game, including holding the visitors to a 25.8 percent success rate from beyond the arc.

McClellan scored a team-high 16 points for Penn State Altoona, including shooting 3-for-4 from three-point range, while adding three rebounds and three assists. Abiah Charles (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) and Elliot Johansson (Stockholm, Sweden/Tibble Gymnasium) each brought 11 points off the bench, with Charles recording five rebounds and a game-high five steals and Johansson securing four boards. Gardner finished with 10 points and a team-best nine rebounds.

La Roche's Joe Starzynski led all players in the game with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Jerique Walker provided 17 points for the Redhawks, and Bryce Epps scored 15.

Penn State Altoona capitalized on its opening possession when Jarosz connected on a three-pointer 13 seconds into the game. But two Starzynski layups and one bucket from Epps helped La Roche to a 6-3 lead, and Starzynski added a three-pointer and another layup to increase the Redhawks' advantage to six, 11-5, by the 14:16 mark. Walker's three-pointer at 11:29 helped La Roche hold its lead, 14-10.

Penn State Altoona began to get on track offensively, going on an 8-0 run to seize its first lead since the opening seconds of the contest. Layups from Johansson and Charles knotted the score at 14-14 by 9:32, and Jahmar White (Yigo, Guam/St. Paul Christian School) and Bush each scored baskets to make it 18-14 by 8:13. After a Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) layup, McClellan nailed a three-pointer and made a layup to extend Penn State Altoona's lead to seven, 25-18. Three McClellan foul shots at 5:11 increased the Lions' advantage to 10 points, 28-18.

La Roche chipped away at its deficit over the rest of the half, but Penn State Altoona continued to hold a lead by the break, helped by three-pointers from McClellan, Bush, and Johansson late in the period. The Redhawks' Michael Brooks hit a three-pointer with two seconds left in the first, but Penn State Altoona still went into halftime with a 37-32 lead.

Both teams played scoreless basketball for the first two minutes of the second half, until Gardner converted on a three-point play, making a layup and sinking the ensuing foul shot to put Penn State Altoona up by eight, 40-32. A Michael Baskerville (Damascus, MD/Damascus) trey and another Gardner layup helped Penn State Altoona to a nine-point lead, and a Jones free throw at 14:55 got the home team's advantage back into double digits, 46-36. Two Jones layups and a Charles jumper boosted the Lions' lead to 13 points, 52-39, with 12:21 remaining.

La Roche slowly whittled away at its deficit, and the Redhawks eventually narrowed the gap to as little as six points, 70-64, with 1:07 to play. But Charles made two free throws, before a Jones steal led to his dunk that increased Penn State Altoona's lead back to 10 points, 74-64, with 52 seconds to go. White, McClellan, and Baskerville combined to go 6-for-6 at the foul line over the final 42 seconds, and Penn State Altoona ended with a strong seven-point win over La Roche to wrap up an AMCC postseason berth.

The Lions ended their day by outrebounding La Roche 50-43, and Penn State Altoona also held scoring advantages over the Redhawks in second-chance points (15-7) and bench points (36-17).