Men's Basketball Advances to AMCC Championship Game; Lions Defeat Pitt-Greensburg

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The No. 3 Penn State Behrend men's basketball team advances to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championship game with a 73-68 win over No. 2 Pitt-Greensburg in the semifinals held at La Roche on Friday afternoon.

Score:  Penn State Behrend 73, Pitt-Greensburg 68

Records: Penn State Behrend (20-7), Pitt-Greensburg (20-6)

Key Moments:

* Sophomore Devin Pope (Ripley, NY/Chautauqua Lake) had 10 of his game-high 21 points in the first half that led to a 16-point lead for the Lions
* The Lions shot 56.0 percent in the first half while holding Pitt-Greensburg to 29.0 percent from the floor
* The Bobcats chipped away at the lead and got within one point with 6:31 left to play
* Pitt-Greensburg fouled down the stretch to try and minimize the rebuilt eight-point lead by Behrend
* Behrend had double the amount of free-throw attempts than the Bobcats
* Behrend went 7-for-14 from the charity stripe in the second half, taking 12 attempts in the final five minutes
* Pope was one of four players in double-figure scoring
* Kenny Fukon (Cranberry Township, PA/Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic) finished with 17 points and seven rebounds
* Dorian Connors (Girard, PA/Girard) and Tyler Gates (Titusville, PA/Titusville) each grabbed a team-best eight boards
* Connors added 10 points and Derrick Clark (Erie, PA/Central Tech) contributed 14

AMCC Championship Game Notes:

* The Redhawks were an 87-76 winner over No. 4 Penn State Altoona in the first semifinal game of the day
* La Roche won both games against Behrend during the regular season
* The same rang true last season and the Lions took the third game of the series to win their sixth AMCC Championship at La Roche

Next Up:

* The Lions will square off with the No. 1 La Roche Redhawks for the AMCC title for the third straight year. Tip-off is at 1 p.m.