Lions Fall to La Roche in AMCC Championship Game
PITTSBURGH – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team's 2022-23 season came to an end on Saturday afternoon, when the Lions suffered an 84-61 loss to La Roche University in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship game at Coach Scott Lang Court.
La Roche (20-7), the top seed in the conference tournament, jumped out to a 16-point lead by halftime and led by as many as 26 to secure the AMCC title and the league's automatic berth to compete in next week's NCAA Division III Tournament.
Second-seeded Penn State Altoona (17-9), playing in an AMCC championship game for the first time in program history, struggled to get into a rhythm on offense, shooting just 39.3 percent from the floor overall, including going 4-for-16 from three-point range. The Lions were also outrebounded 46-32, including surrendering 17 offensive rebounds to La Roche.
"Heartbroken for this team and program to get so close to reaching their ultimate goal of getting to the NCAA Tourney, but so proud of all we accomplished this season, as well. Hats off to La Roche. They played better than us, especially Devon Darrell, who shot the ball like Steph Curry in the first half, which is something he usually doesn't do. When he made five threes in the first half, I knew we were in trouble," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "We played much better in the second half and had a chance to get back in the game, but we just never got over the hump. We missed some layups and took some bad shots, and that coupled with us not rebounding well, just did us in."
Saivon Word (Upper Marlboro, MD/Frederick Douglass) scored a team-high 25 points for Penn State Altoona, his most in a Lions uniform. PJ Charles (Altoona, PA/Altoona) added 10 points and tied for team-highs with eight rebounds and three steals. After the game, Word and Charles were both named to the AMCC All-Tournament team.
Robbie Hicks (Melbourne, FL/Rockledge) contributed seven points and three steals, and Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) also scored seven points while grabbing eight rebounds. Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) recorded six points and four rebounds, and Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley) and Alex McClellan (York, PA/West York) chipped in three points apiece.
La Roche got a game-high 27 points from Devon Darrell. Jordan Grayson scored 14, Joe Pipilo had 13 points and nine rebounds, and Isaiah Thomas contributed 10 points for the Redhawks.
Penn State Altoona scored the game's first four points on baskets from Word and Harman, and Hicks' jumper and Word's three-pointer gave the Lions a 9-4 lead by the 16:38 mark. Charles' bucket at 16:09 kept his team's lead at five, 11-6. La Roche jumped ahead by three on an 8-0 run, but Hicks connected from three-point range at 14:42 to even the score at 14-14. Word's layup and dunk put the Lions back on top, 18-14, by 13:14.
La Roche reclaimed the lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the half, following three consecutive three-pointers by Darrell that gave the home team a 26-23 lead. Seven minutes later, a pair of three-pointers from Joe Starzynski and Desmond Ross extended the Redhawks' lead to 38-26, and another Darrell triple boosted his team's advantage to 15 points. A Pipilo layup at 1:41 gave La Roche an 18-point lead, and after two Word foul shots, the Redhawks held a 47-31 advantage by halftime.
Early in the second half, Penn State Altoona got layups from Charles, Harman, and Word to make it a 14-point game, and after that, Word made two free throws and a layup to get to within 13 points, 53-41. Hicks' bucket at 15:36 brought Penn State Altoona to within 10, 53-43. After La Roche got its lead back to 15 points, the Lions were able to get back to within 11 by the 10:34 mark, when Charles' layup made it 60-49.
But a 7-0 run by the Redhawks extended their lead to 18 points, and Penn State Altoona was unable to get any closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
With the season at a close, McGreal reflected on what his team was able to accomplish, especially what his trio of graduating seniors were able to do during their time.
"This senior group has meant so much to our program," he said. "A couple 1,000-point scorers, regular season champs, regionally ranked last year, a 10-game winning streak, best AMCC record ever, multiple game and individual records, and now tourney runners-up – all things that have never been done here before. Thank you Robbie, Druw, and Saivon!"
