Thiel Too Much For Lions

GREENVILLE, Pa. - The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team dropped its third game in a row, falling to Thiel, 65-47 in non-conference action on Tuesday night.

After a low scoring, tight first half, the Tomcats started the second half on a 23-6 run to secure their second victory on the season.

Senior Dan Simpson (Pittsburgh, PA/Upper St. Clair) got the Lions (0-3) off to a good start, draining a three just over one minute into the contest. The Behrend offense would go cold from there though, scoring only two points in the next four minutes.  

Poor shooting by both teams would keep the game close with neither team shooting better than 40 percent from the field in the opening half.  Thiel would take a 25-21 halftime lead into the locker room.

The Tomcats came out fast to start the second half.  Blair Rozenblad scored nine of Thiel's first 12 points, putting the Tomcats up by 10.  The hot shooting would continue with Thiel pushing their lead to as much as 21 by the midway point of the half.

Down for the entire second half, the Lions tried to chip away at the lead but shot 1-14 from three and could only get within 13.  Stingy defense held Behrend to just 26.9 percent shooting in the second 20 minutes.

Russ Conley (Transfer, PA/Reynolds) led all scorers with 19 points and eight rebounds.  Evan Eaton (Mt. Lebanon, PA/Mt. Lebanon) came off the bench to score a career high 10 points.

The Lions will be back in action on Saturday for a home game against Hartwick. Game time is 2 p.m.