CLEVELAND – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team notched its first victory of the 2024-25 season on Saturday afternoon, fending off SUNY Canton for a 93-83 win in the Bill Sudeck Tournament's consolation game in Horsburgh Gymnasium.

Penn State Altoona (1-1) got off to a fast start and established a 19-point lead midway through the first half, but Canton (0-2) rallied to overcome its deficit and take a 49-48 lead by halftime. But the Lions regrouped and outscored the Roos 45-34 in the second half, during which Penn State Altoona limited Canton to a field goal success rate of just 34.4 percent.

Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) finished with a team-high 23 points for Penn State Altoona while grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the year. Additionally, he led all players with eight steals, a total that set a new Lions' record for the most steals in a game. Jones was named to the all-tournament team for his performance the past two days.

"Super excited to get our first win of the year out of the way. Hats off to coach Dylan Seikel and his Canton team, which was playing shorthanded due to some personnel issues. Even after our big start, they were able to come back and give us a game the rest of the way," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "Obviously, Dwayne's stat line was pretty impressive, but he still has to continue to work on limiting mistakes, as do all of us."

Kal-El Gentles (Austin, TX/San Juan Diego) scored 17 points and secured eight rebounds, while Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) put in 15 points, with both players shooting 6-for-7 from the floor overall. Abiah Charles (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) added 10 points.

Canton got a game-high 28 points from Bryon Streb, as well as 17 points from Kevin Goode, Jr. and 15 points from My'Kell Kaigler.

Penn State Altoona constructed a 19-point lead during the first half, only to see Canton surge back and eventually take a 49-48 advantage going into the half.

Layups from Gentles and Nehemiah Frye (King George, VA/King George), along with two Jones foul shots, put Penn State Altoona up 6-0 a minute and a half into the game. Three-pointers from Frye, Claar, and Gentles helped the Lions boost their lead to 19-4, and a Jones dunk at 14:28 gave his team an 18-point advantage, 25-7. Free throws by Jalen Martinez (Brooklyn, NY/New Hope Academy), a Claar jump shot, and a Gentles bucket helped to propel Penn State Altoona to its biggest lead of the half, 35-16, by the 8:09 mark.

But Canton managed to outscore the Lions 33-13 over the rest of the half to end the period with a one-point lead. The Roos used a 10-0 run in a two-minute span to close the gap to 35-26, and Goode's layup at 4:58 narrowed the difference to just four points, 36-32. Jones' foul shots and dunk and Charles' layup put Penn State Altoona up by nine, 42-34, but Canton responded with a 15-2 run that was capped by Streb's layup and free throw at 1:37 to give the Roos a 49-44 lead.

Penn State Altoona got a three-pointer from Aidan Goodwin (Norwalk, OH/Monroeville) and foul shot by Eli Sterling (Greencastle, PA/Greencastle-Antrim) to make it a one-point game at the halfway point, with Canton holding a 49-48 lead going to the locker rooms.

The teams traded baskets early in the second half, but Penn State Altoona slowly began to pull away. A block by Gentles led to his fastbreak dunk the other way to give his team a 62-55 lead, and his layup and pair of foul shots made it 66-55. Two Jones layups, a jumper from Kevin Woodand, Jr. (Great Mills, MD/Great Mills), and a Martinez free throw extended the Lions' lead to 15 points, 73-58, by 10:43.

Three-pointers by Elliot Johansson (Stockholm, Sweden/Tibble Gymnasium) and Justin Sheetz (Eldersburg, MD/Liberty) put Penn State Altoona's lead at 84-70 by the 4:44 mark. Canton got back to within nine points, but no closer, as the Lions were able to successfully close the game out for a 10-point victory.

"I really think the game changed late in the first half. After Canton had taken the lead, I put a completely different five on the court, and that group finished the half strong on a 4-0 run. Those guys showed our main guys that, if we just play our game and do the simple things, we'll be able to win this game," said McGreal. "That's exactly what we did in the second half, when we limited turnovers and made better decisions. Switching to a zone defense was a big key on that side of the ball, as well."

Penn State Altoona finished the game with a 44-30 rebounding advantage over Canton, and the Lions' bench outscored the opponent's bench by a 21-8 margin.

Penn State Altoona returns to Ivyside for its home opener on Tuesday, November 12, when the Lions will host regional non-conference foe Juniata College for a 7 p.m. contest in Adler Arena. Penn State Altoona's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will be collecting food items at the game that night, as part of their ongoing efforts to support the Blair County Food Drive and Ivyside Eats.