HAMBURG, NY – For the second straight game, the Penn State Behrend men's basketball team found themselves in a defensive battle.
And for the second straight game, the Lions came out on top.
Shane Skelly (Westlake, OH/Westlake) scored 17 points and made a clutch free-throw with seven seconds left to vault Behrend to a 55-52 win over Hilbert on Monday night.
Nick DeLisio hit two more foul shots just over one second later to put the Lions back up two possessions (55-50) and the game on ice.
With the victory, Behrend is now in sole possession of first place in the AMCC with a 7-1 conference record. The Lions carry a 13-2 overall mark and have won eight in a row.
Behrend jumped out to a 28-18 lead at the break thanks to another stellar defensive effort. The Lions forced 21 turnovers on the evening, and held the Hawks (12-3, 7-2 AMCC) to just six points over the final 7:58 of the first half.
Hilbert battled back, taking a one point advantage on a Trevor Stark three with 13:22 remaining in the contest. That lead, however, would be the Hawks last of the game.
Behrend then went to work at the foul line, scoring seven of their next nine points from the stripe to take a 45-38 lead at the 8:29 mark.
The Hawks made one final push, tying the game on two Sean Weisansal free throws with 3:49 left.
Delisio then went on a personal 5-0 run to open up a lead from which the Lions would not look back. The junior finished with 15, and scored seven of the final eight points of the game for Behrend.
Malquan Pullium (Erie, PA/Strong Vincent) scored a career-high nine points, including 2-of-4 from three.
If one wanted to find out how the Lions were able to get this key road victory, they would need to look no further than the numbers from the foul line.
Behrend was unflappable.
Skelly (9-of-11), Delisio (5-of-6), Keith Wallace (Erie, PA/Central Tech) (2-2), and Zane Hackett (Brookville, PA/Brookville) (7-of-8) combined to go 23-of-27, which was good for 85.2 percent. Hilbert, meanwhile, attempted just 23 free throws, and made only 12.
The eight-game winning streak is the Lions longest since the 2007-08 season when they won 11 in a row.
Behrend returns to the Junker Center on Thursday, January 23 when they take on Pitt-Bradford at 6 p.m.
