STEUBENVILLE, Oh. - The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team scored 41 points in the second half after trailing at halftime to edge Franciscan, 67-59. With the win the Lions (11-1, 5-0 AMCC) remain unbeaten in the AMCC and move to 5-0 on the road.
Zane Hackett (Brookville, PA/Brookville) led Behrend starters shooting 7-of-10 from the field for 18 points and also hauled in six rebounds. Connor McLaughlin sparked the Lions offense draining five three-pointers off the bench and finished with a career high 18 points to go along with three rebounds.
Behrend trailed at the break for just the second time all season after Moses Sullivan hit a trey with six seconds left in the first half that gave Franciscan (2-9, 0-5 AMCC) a 27-26 advantage. The Lions responded shooting 15-of-26 (57.7%) in the second frame.
After trading baskets for most of the second half, McLaughlin hit a clutch three-pointer at the 7:45 mark that gave Behrend a 51-50 lead. Wes Davic (Grafton, OH/Midview) followed with a jumper and Hackett made a layup to bump the Lions lead to 55-50 with 5:25 remaining. Davic finished with his fifth double-double of the year securing 17 rebounds and scoring 12 points.
Franciscan would cut the lead to two at the 3:06 mark after Richard Cross converted a three-point play hitting a jump shot and drawing a foul. Hackett stepped up in crunch time with a jumper and a slam dunk increasing the Behrend lead to six with 96 seconds to go. After a defensive stop, Nick DeLisio (Aliquippa, PA/Central Valley) hit a clutch jumper to boost Behrend to a 63-55 advantage.
DeLisio and McLaughlin went 4-for-4 from the line in the final 30 seconds to claim the hard-fought victory. DeLisio notched 10 points in the contest and added four assists.
The Lions hit the road for the second leg of back-to-back games traveling to Pitt-Greensburg tomorrow. Tip-off is at 4 p.m.