SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Penn State Altoona men's basketball had its three-game winning streak snapped on Friday evening, when the Lions were edged 71-66 by Western New England University in the opening night of the Hampton Inn Holiday Classic at WNE's Caprio Center.

Penn State Altoona (3-2) fell behind 35-22 at the conclusion of a sloppy first half in which the two teams combined for 22 turnovers. The Lions surged back to take the lead midway through the second half, but Western New England (3-2) made some key plays down the stretch to pull out the win.

"Super proud of the guys for battling back against a very talented and experienced team on their home court. Really impressed with our defensive effort, which was really strong, other than the last few possessions," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "We just played so bad offensively in the first half that we put ourselves in too deep of a hole in the first half. Hopefully, we can feed off of our second half performance and leave Springfield 1-1."

Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) led the Lions in scoring with 13 points, while Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) and Jalen Martinez (Brooklyn, NY/New Hope Academy) finished with 11 points and four rebounds apiece. Nehemiah Frye (King George, VA/King George) added 11 points and four boards.

Kal-El Gentles (Austin, TX/San Juan Diego) scored eight points while leading the team in rebounds and assists with six and four, respectively. Abiah Charles (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) chipped in eight points off the bench.

Western New England's Brian Geitner led all scorers with 17 points. Cody Palazzesi contributed 13 for the Golden Bears, and Tim Restall added 11 points.

Jones' layup and dunk, along with a jumper from Gentles, helped Penn State Altoona to a 6-3 lead to start the game. Michael Baskerville (Damascus, MD/Damascus) connected on a three-pointer at 13:34 to put the Lions up 10-8, but WNE outscored Penn State Altoona 14-2 over the next seven minutes to establish a 22-12 advantage. Will Laplante's jumper and Geitner's layup extended the Golden Bears' lead to 30-17 with 3:37 to go in the first half, and a Palazzesi three-pointer at 2:11 increased the home team's advantage to 35-19. Charles hit a three-pointer with 59 seconds left in the period to close the scoring in the half, and Penn State Altoona headed into the intermission trailing 35-22.

The Lions started the second half on a tear, outscoring WNE 25-8 over the first nine-and-a-half minutes. Frye's three-pointer, Jones' jumper, and Claar's layup and foul shot lowered the Golden Bears' lead to seven points, 37-30, and Gentles, Frye, and Martinez each hit jump shots to make it a one-point game, 37-36, by 14:01. A Martinez trey and Charles basket tied the score at 41-41, before Martinez's layup at 11:38 gave the Lions a 43-41 lead. Two foul shots from Gentles and another Martinez bucket put Penn State Altoona ahead 47-43 by the 10:36 mark.

WNE responded with a 15-3 run over the next four minutes, capped by a Luka Vlajkovic layup that put the Golden Bears up 58-50 at 6:32. Claar's layup and Frye's jump shot got Penn State Altoona back to within four, 58-54, before scores from Martinez, Mason Kargo (Portage, PA/Portage), and Jones narrowed the gap to three, 63-60. One possession later, Jones and Claar drained back-to-back threes to cut the WNE lead to one, 67-66, with 1:21 to play.

But WNE got layups from Geitner and Nate Kasper over the final 1:02 of the game, and the Golden Bears held Penn State Altoona scoreless in its final two possessions to close out the contest.

Penn State Altoona will play in the consolation game of the Holiday Classic tomorrow, Saturday, November 23, at 12 p.m against Colby College.