Lions Defeat La Roche; Advance to AMCC Championship

HAMBURG, N.Y. – For the third consecutive season, the Penn State Behrend men's basketball team will play in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) championship game after knocking off No. 2 seed La Roche 55-48 in the AMCC Tournament on Friday night.

Needing only 15 points to become the program's all-time leading scorer, senior center Russ Conley (Transfer, PA/Reynolds) netted a game-high 21 points and now stands alone at the top of the list.

After Conley tied the game at 2-all with a layup at the 18:49 mark, the Lions (19-8) were behind for the rest of the opening stanza.  Behrend trailed by as many as 10, but a Pat St. Andrews (State College, PA/State College) three just before the break cut the deficit to seven at halftime.

With the second half underway, the Lions started to chip away at the La Roche lead.  By the 14:05 mark, Behrend cut the deficit to just one.  The Lions were still behind with less than eight minutes to play, but Keith Wallace (Erie, PA/Central Tech) drained a three and Nick DeLisio (Aliquippa, PA/Central Valley) hit two from the line and suddenly Behrend was leading for the first time all game, 41-40.

The two teams traded buckets for the next five minutes and with 2:11 to play, the contest was knotted up at 45-all.  The game turned in favor of the Lions from that point on as Behrend ended the game on a 10-3 run.  Over the final two minutes, the Lions hit 10-of-12 clutch free throws to seal the victory.

DeLisio was the other Behrend player in double figures with 10 points.  A key difference in the game was the Lions ability to hit their free throws.  Behrend outscored the Redhawks by 11 from the stripe alone.

The Lions will now face Medaille tomorrow in the championship game at 3 p.m. at Hilbert with the AMCC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.