PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The No. 2 Penn State Behrend men's basketball team takes on No. 3 Alfred State in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Men's Basketball Semifinals on Friday, Feb. 23, hosted by La Roche. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Pittsburgh. The Lions are in search of their seventh AMCC title in program history and first since 2018-19.
Coverage:
Video | Live Stats | Game Notes
No. 2 Behrend News & Notes:
* Behrend ended the regular season with a 75-68 victory at Wells this past Saturday to earn AMCC Co-Regular Season Champion honors with La Roche as both teams notched a 14-4 record in conference play
* It marks the fifth time in program history that Lions were named Regular Season Champions with the last time being the 2021-22 season
* Sophomore guard Charlie Breindel (Saint Marys, PA/Elk County Catholic) tallied a career-high 17 points against the Express, going 5-9 from the field, 2-3 from beyond the arc, and 5-6 from the free throw line
* Freshman Jake Ziegler (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) also recorded a career-best 15 points and seven rebounds
* Stefan Milinkovic (Fairport, NY/Fairport) scored a season-high 14 points in 14 minutes to go along with four rebounds, while Owen Flisnik (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Sutherland) played a season-best 21 minutes and grabbed six rebounds
* Tommy DiRienzo (Pittsburgh, PA/Bethel Park) leads the AMCC with 468 points and is second in points per game (18.7)
* DiRienzo becomes the first Behrend player to lead the AMCC in points since Russ Conley amassed this feat in 2012-13
* Matthew McDonough (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) has made a conference-high 70 three-pointers and is sixth in three-point percentage (40.9). McDonough is the first player since Nick DeLisio (2014-15) to be the conference leader in three-pointers
* RJ Marsh (State College, PA/Saint Joseph's Catholic Academy) leads the team and is eighth in the AMCC in rebounds per game (7.6)
* Off the bench, Mason Blankenberg (Ontario, NY/Wayne) stands fourth in the conference with a 54.2 percent field-goal percentage
* The Lions are first in the conference in field-goal percentage (46.4), three-point percentage (35.5), and free-throw percentage (77.2)
No. 3 Alfred State News & Notes:
* Alfred State claimed the third seed in the AMCC Tournament, finishing with a 14-11 overall record and a 12-6 record in conference play
* The Pioneers defeated Penn State Altoona in a first-round game on Tuesday by a score of 100-72
* Four Alfred State players finished in double-figures against the Lions. Senior Cody Schneider led all scorers with 25 points, followed by Dylan Perry (21 points), Ryan Rosa (16 points), Paris Jamison (15 points). Rosa grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and Schneider had a game-high six steals
* Jamison leads the team with 17.6 points per game, while Schneider records a team-high 8.4 rebounds to go along with 17.2 points per game
* Perry (11.0 ppg) and guard Michael Miller (10.3) also tally double-digit scoring for the Pioneers
* Alfred State is seeking its first AMCC Championship in program history since joining the conference in 2019
Series History:
* Behrend leads the all-time series 9-2, dating back to the 2015-16 season
* The Lions swept the regular-season series against the Pioneers, narrowly defeating Alfred State in their last matchup (78-76) on February 14
Tournament Schedule/Matchups:
First Round: Tuesday, February 20
#3 Alfred State d. #6 Penn St. Altoona, 100-72
#4 Pitt-Greensburg d. #5 Pitt-Bradford, 86-75
Bye: #1 La Roche & #2 Penn State Behrend
Championship Round at #1 La Roche
Semifinals: Friday, February 23
#1 La Roche vs. #4 Pitt-Greensburg – 6 p.m.
#2 Penn State Behrend vs. #3 Alfred State – 8 p.m.
Finals: Saturday, February 24 – 5 p.m.
