Coverage
Erie, Pa – The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team is once again set to travel to Pittsburgh, PA for the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) playoffs, hosted by the La Roche Redhawks this weekend.
Behrend (21-4, 14-4 AMCC) have secured the No. 2 seed for the second straight season and will play Saturday evening against No. 3 Medaille at 7 p.m. Top-seeded La Roche is scheduled to play against No. 4 Mt. Aloysius at 5 p.m. The semifinal game winners will meet in the conference championship game on Sunday afternoon for the right to play in the NCAA Tournament.
The Lions have qualified for AMCC postseason play in each of the conferences 22 seasons. Behrend is 21-16 all-time in the AMCC tournament. The Lions last won the title in 2013-14 and looking to capture their sixth conference crown in program history.
The Lions are led in scoring by guard Andy Niland (Fairview, PA/Fairview) and stretch big man Justin Gorny (South Park, PA/South Park), who are each averaging 14.2 points per contest. Gorny is also leading Behrend on the glass averaging 5.9 rebounds per game this season.
Niland has been a key facilitator for the Lions once again this season dishing out 6.4 assists per game while also breaking the Behrend program record for career assists. In addition, Niland eclipsed 1,000 career points this season as did teammates Justin Gorny and forward Dan Wanker (Pittsburgh, PA, South Park).
Wanker and combo guard Mike Fischer (Wexford, PA, North Allegheny) each rank in the top five in the AMCC in field goal percentage at 60.1 percent and 54.4 percent respectively.
As a team, the Lions are ranked second in Division III in scoring defense allowing just 60.7 points per game.