Men’s Basketball Loses 88-71 to Behrend
ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Behrend came out on top of Saturday's Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Game of the Week in the Adler Arena, as the visitors dealt the Penn State Altoona men's basketball team an 88-71 loss.
Penn State Behrend (12-2, 7-0 AMCC) used a strong defensive effort to limit Penn State Altoona (11-4, 6-1 AMCC) to 71 points and just four three-pointers made. The Lions played a sound game, committing a season-low seven turnovers, but Behrend secured a lead late in the first half and never relinquished it.
"We were beaten by a better team," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "We have to figure out a new rotation following the loss of some of our players."
Varun Ajjarapu (Tampa, FL/Berkeley Prep) and Robbie Hicks (Rockledge, FL/Rockledge) tied for the team lead in scoring for Penn State Altoona, contributing 14 points apiece. Ajjarapu also tallied three steals, while Hicks had two.
Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley) finished with 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds, and Alex McClellan (York, PA/West York) also scored 12 points while dishing out a team-best three assists.
Behrend got a game-high 26 points and nine rebounds from PJ Gourley. RJ Marsh added 19 points for the visitors, and Kenny Fukon scored 17 points.
Penn State Altoona jumped out to a strong lead, going up 7-2 three minutes into the game following Ajjarapu's three-pointer and jumpers by Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) and McClellan. But Behrend worked its way back and eventually took a 12-11 lead on Marsh's trey at 14:20. Just over a minute later, Bush's layup and foul shot and Jarrett Gardner's (Live Oak, FL/Suwannee) dunk got Penn State Altoona back in front, 17-14.
The teams played neck-and-neck for the remainder of the half, and the score was tied 27-27 with 2:30 left in the period before a late push by Behrend. Three-pointers by Marsh and Fukon, along with a layup from Tommy DiRenzo, propelled the visitors to a 35-29 lead by the intermission.
Behrend expanded its lead throughout the second half. The visitors' advantage grew to double digits for the first time at the 17:18 mark of the second period, when Marsh's three-pointer put his team up 45-33. Behrend went on to lead by as many as 19 points.
Penn State Altoona got within 10 points several times during the second half, but the Lions were unable to trim their deficit back into single digits. McClellan's jumper at 16:20 narrowed the score to 47-37, but Behrend answered quickly with a three-pointer from Gourley. Two minutes later, McClellan's foul shot made the score 52-42, but Behrend responded again with a trey from Isaac DeGregorio and jumper by Owen Flisnik. Bush's basket at 10:28 once again brought the Lions back to within 10, 57-47, but Fukon's three-pointer and Matt Niland's jumper increased Behrend's lead.
Penn State Altoona finished with scoring advantages over Behrend in points off of turnovers (18-8), fastbreak points (13-11), and bench points (16-8), while Behrend led in points in the paint (36-28) and second chance points (17-6).
Next up, Penn State Altoona men's basketball will prepare for its first AMCC road game since December 8, as the Lions will travel to Greensburg this Wednesday, January 19 for a 7:30 p.m. contest at Pitt-Greensburg.
