ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team fell to La Roche 71-69 in triple overtime on Saturday afternoon in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action.
Russ Conley (Transfer, PA/Reynolds) dropped 31 points, but it was not enough as the Lions (9-5, 5-2 AMCC) four-game winning streak was snapped.
Behrend raced out to a 30-17 halftime lead after holding the Redhawks to just 20.7 percent shooting. The Lions held La Roche without a field goal for the first eight minutes of the opening stanza.
In the second half, the Redhawks turned the page and started their comeback. Midway through the second twenty, Behrend held a 39-29 edge. La Roche doubled up the Lions in the final 11 minutes to tie the game at 49-all and send the contest into overtime.
Adam Palcic (Greensburg, PA/Greensburg Central Catholic) started the first overtime session with a quick layup. After a Redhawks' layup, Conley netted four straight. La Roche answered with four of their own to once again tie the game. Behrend's final attempt fell short, forcing a second overtime.
Conley scored all six of the Lions' points in the second overtime, including the game tying layup with one minute to go. Neither team scored in the final minute and a third overtime period was needed.
This time, the Redhawks grabbed the early lead until Nick DeLisio (Aliquippa, PA/Central Valley) drained a clutch three. After La Roche pushed their lead to 69-65, Conley came up with another layup to cut the deficit to two. Behrend fouled quickly, sending the Redhawks to the line. Ryan Frantz went 1-of-2 from the charity stripe but a costly Lions' turnover gave the ball back to La Roche. This time Andre Flanigan went 1-of-2 from the line but the damage was done and the Redhawks earned the hard fought victory.
DeLisio chipped in 13 points and five assists for the Behrend offense. Palcic grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds with Pat St. Andrews (State College, PA/State College) recording a career-high six assists.
The Lions will host Hilbert on Monday at 8 p.m.