Lions Fall to Eastern Connecticut State

MIAMI, Fl. – The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team suffered their second loss of the season at the hands of Eastern Connecticut State by a score of 63-60 Tuesday afternoon at the Hoop Mia Holiday Shootout, snapping their six game winning streak.

The Lions' (8-2) second half rally was not enough to overcome the Warriors' (9-1) first-half surge.

Dan Wanker (Pittsburgh, PA/South Park) led the team with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while also grabbing eight boards. Justin Gorny (South Park, PA/South Park) shot 50 percent from the floor for 17 points.

Mike Fischer (Wexford, PA/North Allegheny) posted 13 points while Andy Niland (Fairview, PA/Fairview) recorded six points and six assists.

For the second consecutive game, the Lions trailed at the end of the first half, but were unable to pick up a victory this time. After being tightly contested for the majority of the first half, the Warriors went on a 22-8 run to end the half.

Behrend shot 39.1 percent from the field in the first half, while Eastern Connecticut State shot 46.4 percent. Kendall Marquez tallied points in the first, and finished the game with a season-high 23 points.

The Lions came out of the locker room trailing 38-24, but struck first in the second half with a Fischer layup.

Trailing 54-51, Wanker converted on a layup while being fouled, and was able to add another point from the line to even up the score at 54 with 3:43 left to play.  

With nine seconds remaining, Wanker buried a three to bring the score to 63-60 in favor of Eastern Connecticut State.

After a timeout by each team and a turnover by the Warriors, Gorny got off a contested last-second shot from the corner in hopes of sending the game to overtime, but could not convert, ending the game 63-60.

Behrend will look to shrug off the loss tomorrow when they take on Eastern at 10 a.m.