Lions Win AMCC Opener, 67-57

ERIE, Pa. – Keith Wallace (Erie, PA/Central Tech) scored a career-high 24 points to help the Penn State Behrend men's basketball team past D'Youville 67-57 Wednesday night. Wallace added five rebounds and four assists and was terrific on defense snatching four steals.

The Lions (4-0, 1-0 AMCC) took the early advantage and went on a 15-2 run to secure a 17-point lead with 6:58 remaining in the first half. D'Youville (1-5, 0-1 AMCC) was able to cut the deficit to single digits and trailed by nine heading into the locker room.

The Spartans drained four of their first five shots in the second half and cut the Lions lead to one point at the 17:14 mark. Wallace tipped the momentum back in Behrend's favor when he came up with a steal and fed Zane Hackett (Brookville, PA/Brookville) for an alley-oop jam. From that point on, the Lions put together a 10-0 run thanks to another Hackett layup and three Wallace field goals.

D'Youville once again cut into the Behrend lead and made it a 42-38 game with 11:01 left to play. Wes Davic (Grafton, OH/Midview) was aggresive on the boards and hauled in key rebounds in the second half including an offensive rebound that led to a layup and one to give the Lions a 10-point lead with 9:26 left in the game. Davic finished with a double-double including 14 points and 17 total rebounds.

Behrend converted several key plays down the stretch including a layup by Malquan Pullium (Erie, PA/Strong Vincent) off of a steal that gave the Lions a five-point lead with under two minutes remaining in the game. Clutch free-throw shooting in the final minutes propelled Behrend to victory. Pullium and Wallace combined to go 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in the final 38 seconds to seal the win.

Hackett posted his second double-double of the season, scoring 10 points and recording 10 rebounds. Nick DeLisio (Aliquippa, PA/Central Valley) played a well-rounded game finishing with six points, five rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block.  

The Lions continue conference play Saturday when they travel to La Roche College. The game is slated to start at 4 p.m.