CRESSON, Pa. - The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team fell to Mt. Aloysius, 67-64 on Sunday afternoon in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action.
Mount Aloysius connected on 13 threes in the game which proved to be the difference.
Adam Palcic (Greensburg, PA/Greensburg Central Catholic) got the Lions (5-8, 4-3 AMCC) off to a quick start, hitting a three just 13 seconds into the contest. The back and forth battled continued for most of the first half with neither team gaining much of an edge.
At the 10:32 mark, Demetrius Davis hit a three to give the Mounties a lead which they would hold onto for the rest of the half. Nick DeLisio (Aliquippa, PA/Central Valley) hit a three of his own to cut the deficit to five at the break with Mount Aloysius leading 38-33.
With the second half underway, Behrend jumped out to a 12-0 run in the first four minutes. Russ Conley (Transfer, PA/Reynolds) and DeLisio contributed all 12 points to give the Lions the momentum.
The Mounties had an answer of their own with Davis cashing in two from the charity stripe. Shane Skelly (Westlake, OH/Westlake) came back with seven straight points to keep the Lions ahead though.
Over the final eight minutes though, scoring was hard to come by for both teams. Davis hit a triple to put the Mt. Aloysius up by six only to have Evan Eaton (Mt. Lebanon, PA/Mt. Lebanon) and Nick Thorsen (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) hit back to back shots to get back within one.
With 10 seconds to play, Howard Fergusson hit two clutch free throws to make it a three-point game. One final attempt by the Lions to tie the game and force overtime fell just short, giving the Mounties their second AMCC victory.
Skelly led Behrend with 18 points and 10 boards. Eaton and DeLisio also scored in double figures, contributing 13 and 10 respectively.
The Lions will return home to host Pitt-Bradford on Wednesday. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.
