ERIE, Pa - Matt Colpoys (Erie, PA/Cathedral Prep) scored a season-high 19 points and the Penn State Behrend men's basketball team defeated D'Youville in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference action, 92-77.
Colpoys added a career-high seven field goals, shooting 87.5 percent from the floor and added four rebounds. Malquan Pullium (Erie, PA/Strong Vincent) added 18 points after shooting 7-for-16 from the field and 4-for-5 from the charity stripe. He pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Sophomore guard Andy Niland (Fairview, PA/Fairview) drained three three's and added 17 points. He also went a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
Dan Wanker (Pittsburgh, PA/South Park) provided life off the bench for the Lions (13-5, 8-3 AMCC). He scored 14 points after shooting 55.6 percent from the field. Connor McLaughlin (Ashtabula, OH/Edgewood) made his sixth start on the season and added 10 points.
The Spartans (5-13, 4-7 AMCC) played Behrend strong for the majority of the first half, but were unable to contain the overwhelming Lions offense down the stretch.
After D'Youville registered the first bucket of the game, Behrend quickly answered with a Gorny three and never looked back. The Lions steadily built a solid lead over the course of the first 20 minutes, tallying their largest lead of the half on a Niland layup at 6:51, putting them up 26-14.
The Spartans trimmed the Behrend lead over the remainder of the half, taking a four-point deficit into the break, 39-35.
The Lions finished the half shooting 50.0 percent with Wanker leading the way with nine points. D'Youville's Zach Blask scored 16 in the first, but only managed to score two more in the second half, finishing with 18.
After jumping out to a quick 10-point lead to start the second half, the Spartans made their way back into the game. They managed to tie the game on two seperate occasions at the 13:22 mark and for the final time at the 12:48 mark. Behrend, however, responded quickly, jumping back out to a double-figure lead just a few minutes later with the help of Colpoys.
Behrend held their double-figure lead for nearly 10 minutes to finish the game. Pullium drained two free-throws with 1:23 left in teh game to give the Lions a 16-point lead, their lergest of the night.
The Lions shot 54.8 percent from the field as a team, including 60.7 percent in their strong second-half performance.
Behrend will be back in action this Saturday when they travel to Mount Aloysius. Game time is set for 3 p.m.
