ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men’s basketball team will head to Pittsburgh to battle the two-time defending champions Medaille in the semifinals of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championships, Friday at 3 p.m. The 2010-11 playoffs will be hosted by La Roche.
This marks the 14th straight AMCC playoff appearance under head coach Dave Niland. The Lions are coming off of a stellar regular season in which the men posted a 22-3 overall record including 16-2 in conference play. Behrend is looking for its fourth AMCC title and its first since the 2007-08 season.
The No. 3 seed Medaille defeated No. 6 Pitt-Bradford 97-85 in the first round to advance and face Behrend. The fourth seed Hilbert put up big numbers against visiting Mount Aloysius (102-60) to earn a spot in the semifinals taking on the AMCC’s top-ranked Redhawks.
The Lions are led by seniors Chris Saltzman and Justin Kovac. Saltzman is fourth in the AMCC averaging 17.1 points per game while Kovac is sixth in Division III boasting a 3.43 assist-to-turnover ratio. Along with Russ Conley’s outstanding post play and the depth of the Behrend squad, Behrend’s fourth AMCC championship banner is within reach.
Last year, the Lions were bounced out of AMCC playoffs by Pitt-Bradford but later ventured to Washington, D.C. and won the 2011 ECAC Southern Region Championship.
The winners of the semifinals will meet in the championship game on Saturday at 1 p.m.
