Behrend Men’s Basketball Begins Season vs. Allegheny In The Junker Center

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team opens the 2024-25 season at home against Allegheny on Friday, Nov. 8. Tip off is slated for 7 p.m. in the Junker Center.

Coverage:

Video | Live Stats

Behrend News & Notes:

* The Lions finished the 2023-24 season with a 21-8 overall record and 14-4 conference record to be named Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Co-Regular Season Champion
* Behrend fell, 80-69, to La Roche in the conference championship but was able to earn an Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) bid
* The Lions played to double-overtime against Juniata in the ECAC Semifinals, falling short by a score of 93-86
* Reigning AMCC Player of the Year Tommy DiRienzo was named 2024-25 AMCC Men's Basketball Preseason Player of the Year
* Last season, DiRienzo registered National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District 7 First Team, ECAC First Team, and D3hoops.com All-Region Third Team honors last season. He was also named to the 2024 AMCC All-Tournament Team and All-Academic Team
* As a team, Behrend was tabbed to finish as the runner-up in the Preseason Coaches' Poll behind defending champion La Roche
* Along with DiRienzo, junior Matthew McDonough (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) was listed as a Preseason Player to Watch after being an All-AMCC Second Team selection last season
* This season, the Lions welcome seven newcomers (six freshmen/one transfer), while 11 returners including three of the five starters return to the floor. The top three leading scorers from last year are also back in DiRienzo (18.7 ppg), McDonough (14.3 ppg), and junior Mason Blankenberg (Ontario, NY/Wayne) (10.2 ppg)
* Head coach Dave Niland begins his 30^th season at the helm of the program. Niland is joined by some new faces on the sideline as RJ Marsh is in his first year as a full-time assistant and Malike Brinson joins the program as a volunteer assistant
* Marsh and Brinson are both former student-athletes at Behrend and played under the tutelage of Niland

Meet the Opposition:

* Allegheny was selected to finish 11^th in the 2024-25 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Preseason Coaches' Poll after recording a 6-19 overall and 4-16 conference record last year
* Guards Luke Barker and Ryan Lang were named PAC Preseason Players To Watch
* Barker, a 2022-23 All-PAC Honorable Mention, led the team last year with 13.7 points and 3.0 assists per game, while also being tied for first with 1.2 steals per game
* Lang started all but one contest last season and averaged career bests in rebounds (4.4) and assists (2.7) per game to go along with 11.2 points per game
* First year head coach Pat Sullivan was hired to lead the Gators men's basketball program this past April after spending 10 seasons as a member of the coaching staff at Wabash College

Series History:

* Behrend leads the all-time series 21-17, dating back to the 1972-73 season
* The Lions and Gators have split the past four matchups going back to 2019-20
* Allegheny was victorious last season over Behrend by a score of 73-67