CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team ended their season with a loss to Swarthmore College in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) South Regional semifinals 84-72 Saturday afternoon.
In his last game as a Behrend Lion, Zane Hackett (Brookville, PA/Brookville) paced the team with 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the floor and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe. He added eight blocks, three assists, a steal and a block in his sendoff.
The three-point specialist Justin Gorny (South Park, PA/South Park) was the only other Lion (21-6) to finish in double digits. He dropped a career-high 14 points for the fifth time this season, sinking four threes for the fourth in his 27 games.
The Garnet (22-7) shot lights out during the contest, posting a 60.8 percent mark from the floor and 9-of-18 from behind the arc. Matt Brennan led all scorers with a career-high 27 points. He shot 88.9 percent (8-of-9) from the floor, including 5-of-6 from three.
Behrend never lead in the game. Brennan hit a three two second into action for Swarthmore and the Lions were never able to catch up. The Garnet were able to slowly build a 10-point lead throughout the first half using multiple small runs.
With 14:26 remaining in the game, and a 50-42 advantage, Swarthmore went on a 19-7 run that gave them their largest lead (20 points) of the game with 8:39 left. The Lions were able to close the gap a little bit before the game finished, but could not get an extensive swing the would bring them all the way back to victory.
Jarrett Pound (Wattsburg, PA/Seneca) scored a career-high six points in the contest. Connor McLaughlin (Ashtabula, OH/Edgewood) and Matt Colpoys (Erie, PA/Cathedral Prep) also notched six.
Andy Niland (Fairview, PA/Fairview) had a rare off-day shooting only dropping five, but he had a game-high six assists while Mike Fisher (Wexford, PA/North Allegheny) added a career-high five. To end the game on a positive note for Behrend, Kevin Scuilli (McKees Rocks, PA/Montour) drained a three as time expired to score the game's final points.