Posted: Jan 14, 2017
ALTOONA, Pa – Penn State Altoona's Javon Wilson drained a deep three buzzer beater to beat the Penn State Behrend men's basketball team in overtime Saturday afternoon, 69-67.
With 2.2 second left in overtime, Connor McLaughlin (Ashtabula, OH/Edgewood) made a layup to give Behrend 67-66 lead but Wilson took the inbound pass and sprinted up the left side of the floor where he chucked up a shot from about 30 feet, banking it in for the win. Wilson led all scorers with 19 points.
Coming off a 24-point performance, McLaughlin continued to shine for the Lions (10-5, 5-3 AMCC). He drained three three-pointers and pulled down five rebounds in a team-leading 15-point outing.
Malquan Pullium (Erie, PA/Strong Vincent) scored 12 and led with nine rebounds and Justin Gorny (South Park, PA/South Park) and Dan Wanker (Pittsburgh, PA/South Park) each scored 11 points and grabbed six boards.
Andy Niland made his return after missing the last few games. The sophomore point guard scored nine points and went 4-for-4 from the foul line.
Behrend and Altoona exchanged baskets for the first four and a half minutes of the game. Gorny drained a jumper at the 16:50 mark, but it would be the last lead Behrend held in the half. Altoona mounted a 15-1 run over the next five minutes, draining three three's in the process, going up 23-10.
The Lions responded by scoring the next six points, slowly giving them momentum to take into the half. Despite finding themselves down by double digits on three separate occasions, Behrend brought the game back within six. Altoona went into the half with a 33-27 lead.
Eight different Lions scored in the first 20 minutes. Gorny had 7 while Niland, Fischer, and McLaughlin each had four.
Behrend started the second half much stronger than the first. Gorny scored two quick layups and McLaughlin drained his first two triples of the game to regain the lead, 37-36, in just over two minutes.
Altoona regained the lead two more times but didn't hold it for long. Pullium finished on a fast break layup with just over nine minutes remaining to give the lead back to the Lions. Behrend held a steady lead until Altoona's Tyson West hit a three with 1:01 on the clock to tie the game at 60-all.
Neither team was able to take back the lead, sending Behrend into overtime for the first time this season.
Altoona scored the first six points of the overtime period, jumping out to a 66-60 lead with less than two minutes remaining. The Lions answered by scoring the next next seven points before Wilson drained the buzzer beater.
The Lions will look to get back on the winning track when La Roche travels to Erie on Wednesday to take on Behrend in the Junker Center at 8 p.m.
