ALTOONA, Pa. – The No. 3 seed Penn State Altoona men's basketball team earned a hard-fought victory on Tuesday night in the first round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament, defeating No. 6 seed Hilbert College 95-88 in Adler Arena to advance in the conference playoffs.

With its win, Penn State Altoona (17-9) will move on to the semifinal round of the AMCC Tournament and will face No. 2 seed Pitt-Greensburg this Friday, February 28, at 8 p.m. That contest will be hosted at Pitt-Bradford, the top seed in the conference tournament.

The Lions played to a five-point lead by halftime of Tuesday's game, then went up by as many as nine in the second half. Momentum changed hands throughout the second half, and Hilbert (14-12) forged ahead by two points with just over three minutes left. But Penn State Altoona came up with some key baskets and stops down the stretch to win by seven, eliminating the Hawks and punching the Lions' ticket to the AMCC semifinals.

"What an amazing night in Adler – great atmosphere, tightly contested playoff basketball game. I'm just so excited that we were able to come out on top. The crowd tonight was great, and I wish it was like that every home game, but I appreciate all the students, student-athletes, faculty, and staff, and a lot of my former players, who came out to support," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "This is the fourth time in seven years that we battled Hilbert in the first round of the tournament, and now we're 3-1 in those games, with every one of them being just like tonight. Hilbert's well coached and has some very talented players, so we knew we were going to have to play our best game to move on in the tournament."

Nehemiah Frye (King George, VA/King George) had a career night for the Lions, scoring a game-high 36 points on a 14-for-20 shooting performance that included going 6-for-8 from three-point range. Frye's point total tied for the sixth-most in a game in Penn State Altoona men's basketball history, and he also tied for the fifth-most field goals made (14) and sixth-best three-point field goal percentage (.750).

Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) contributed 21 points and seven rebounds for Penn State Altoona, and Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) added 18 points, four rebounds, four assists, and four blocks. Kal-El Gentles (Austin, TX/San Juan Diego) scored 10 points, dished out four assists, and tied Jones for the team lead in rebounds with eight.

"By far, Nehemiah had his best game at the right time. It's been an amazing run seeing this team come together and different players stepping up at different times, whether they play 30 minutes or three. Everybody gives their all on this team, but tonight, Nehemiah shined," said McGreal. "I feel like our matchup on Friday is a good one for us. We usually play well against Pitt-Greensburg, but right now, they're the hottest team in Division III, on an 11-game winning streak. Hopefully it ends there."

Hilbert got 17 points from three different players: Quran Briggs, Nathan Moore, and Larry Morse.

Seven early points from Frye helped Penn State Altoona to an 11-7 lead, and a Claar three-pointer at 14:08 made it 19-14. Hilbert pushed back to tie the score 31-31 later in the period, but the Lions went up by seven, 40-33, following a pair of Gentles foul shots.

Seven straight points by Frye gave Penn State Altoona a 47-40 lead, and buckets from Gentles and Jalen Martinez (Brooklyn, NY/New Hope Academy) set the Lions' lead at 51-46 by halftime.

Penn State Altoona increased its lead to nine, 61-52, after a Claar layup at 15:59 of the second half. But Hilbert surged back and took the lead, 69-67, after a Moore three-pointer at 11:04. Morse's layup and free throw at 7:02 kept the score tied, 78-78, and a Morse layup at the 3:08 mark gave the Hawks an 86-84 advantage.

But the Lions reclaimed the lead on the next possession, thanks to a Frye three-pointer, and Penn State Altoona did not yield its lead the rest of the way. Frye's put-back and an Abiah Charles (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) jump shot gave the home team a 91-88 lead with under a minute to go, an Claar tacked four free throws on to his team's total, helping Penn State Altoona close out a 95-88 victory.

Penn State Altoona's 17th win of the season is tied for the second-most in a season in program history.