VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team completed its home-and-home series with Regent University on Saturday afternoon, when the Lions defeated the Royals 113-103 in a contest played at Gateway Christian School.

Penn State Altoona (6-5) used a high-scoring offensive performance to get back in the win column, as the Lions' total of 113 points ranks as the fifth-most in a game in program history. Penn State Altoona built a 49-46 lead by halftime, then outscored Regent (1-10) 64-57 in the second half.

"What a great way to head into Christmas break. After a long layoff, you just don't really know what to expect, and we were sluggish most of the first half to let Regent hang around," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "That team has got to be the best one-win team I've seen. They play hard and with a ton of passion, so besting them at their place meant a lot."

Penn State Altoona's Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) had a banner day, finishing with a career-high 35 points to go along with 12 rebounds. Jones shot 11-for-14 from the floor and went 13-for-16 at the free throw line to finish with the seventh-highest point total by a player in a single game in Lions history.

Jalen Martinez (Brooklyn, NY/New Hope Academy) scored 15 points to go along with five rebounds, while Kal-El Gentles (Austin, TX/San Juan Diego) also had 15 points and contributed six rebounds. Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) scored 14, and Abiah Charles (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) finished with 13 points and three steals.

Christian Brown led Regent in scoring with 24 points, while Brendan Goods had 19 points.

A three-pointer from Mason Kargo (Portage, PA/Portage) helped Penn State Altoona to an early 7-2 lead, and after Regent came back to go ahead by two, a pair of three-point plays from Jones and Martinez helped put the Lions up 18-16 by 11:42. Gentles' dunk preceded two Jones foul shots that made it 22-16, and back-to-back layups from Charles set Penn State Altoona's lead at 27-16 by the 9:48 mark.

Gentles hit a jump shot at 7:05 to make it a 12-point advantage, 34-22, and his three-pointer later in the period kept the difference at 12, 49-37. Regent went on a 9-0 run over the final 1:21 of the first half to trim its deficit to three, including a late jumper from Goods that set the halftime score at 49-46.

Penn State Altoona started the second half with a Kargo trey and Gentles dunk, and Claar connected on a three-pointer at 15:51 to put his team up by five, 60-55. Later, two Martinez baskets and a Michael Baskerville (Damascus, MD/Damascus) layup and foul shot put the Lions up 71-60, and Charles hit a three-pointer at 10:57 to increase the lead to 81-65. Shortly thereafter, Claar hit a trio of three-pointers to boost Penn State Altoona's advantage to 90-74.

The Lions continued to grow their lead in the latter stages of the second half. Elliot Johansson (Stockholm, Sweden/Tibble Gymnasium) made a three-pointer at 7:34, before a couple Jones foul shots and a Gentles layup got Penn State Altoona's point total to the century mark, 100-82. Jones tacked seven more points on to his team's total, and Nehemiah Frye's (King George, VA/King George) bucket at 3:45 gave the Lions a 109-87 advantage. Regent got back to within 11 points late, but Penn State Altoona still finished with a comfortable victory.

Penn State Altoona ended the win with a dominant 60-38 advantage in points in the paint, and the Lions' bench also accounted for 67 points. Defensively, the visitors forced 19 Regent turnovers.

"Our defense really led us to victory. We turned them over a ton and turned those into easy baskets, and in the second half, we just got on a roll and then the threes started falling," said McGreal. "Now, we'll take a few days to celebrate the holiday and get ready for our last non-conference game on the 30th. Merry Christmas."

Penn State Altoona men's basketball returns to action later this month, when the Lions come back home to host non-conference opponent McDaniel College for a 2 p.m. tipoff on Monday, December 30.