DiRienzo’s Career Night Carries Behrend Past Thiel, 94-76

GREENVILLE, Pa. – Senior Tommy DiRienzo (Pittsburgh, PA/Bethel Park) scored a career-high 42 points to lead the Penn State Behrend men's basketball team past Thiel, 94-76, on Wednesday night.

Score: Penn State Behrend 94, Thiel 76
Records: Penn State Behrend (2-0), Thiel (1-2)

Key Moments:

* The Tomcats held a lead in the first 12 minutes of Wednesday's contest, but Behrend was able to grab the its first lead with a driving layup from Sam Petrarca with six minutes remaining in the first half
* The Lions would never look back, taking a 42-35 advantage to the locker room at halftime
* The stat sheet was very similar entering the break as both teams shot 52 percent from the field
* Behrend came out in the second half more aggressive and created comfortable separation on the scoreboard
* An Isaac DeGregorio (Allison Park, PA/North Catholic) three-pointer with 14:15 on the clock gave the Lions a 64-52 lead and forced a Thiel timeout
* Out of the timeout, Behrend went on 6-0 run over in a span of three minutes that was capped off by a DiRienzo jumper
* The Lions registered their largest lead of 25 (94-69) on Wednesday with James Wesling (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) knocking down his first collegiate jumper
* Along with DiRienzo's game-high, Matthew McDonough (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) (14 points) and Mason Blankenberg (Ontario, NY/Wayne) (12 points) also finished with double-figure efforts
* DiRienzo also led the Lions on the glass with a game-high six rebounds, while Blankenberg recorded a team-high four assists to go along with four rebounds
* Thiel was led by Gabriel Gonzalez (14 points) and Khamari Accursio-Harris (13 points). Rob Thomas chipped in 10 points and five rebounds off the bench
* DiRienzo's new scoring career-high puts him in third in the single-game scoring rankings, behind Jim Golembski (1962-63/43 points) and Doug Zimmerman (1969-70/45 points)
* Along with his career-high in points, DiRienzo set a new career-best in free throws made, going a perfect 15-for-15 from line
* His mark at the line puts him in fourth for single game makes at the charity stripe, one behind Zimmerman and Glen McKinney (1970-71) who rank tied for third with 16 makes in a game
* For the first time in his career, DiRienzo was able to get over the 40-point plateau
* This is the ninth contest in his career and second game in a row that he has amassed 30 or more points with the last time being in the home-opener last Friday (30 points)
* DiRienzo tallied 13 field goals which was two shy of tying his career-high in field goals of 15 that was set last season against Saint Vincent
* For the game, Behrend finished 25-for-29 (86.2 percent) from the free throw line, 31-for-54 (57.4 percent) from the field, and 7-for-17 (41.2 percent) from three
* The Lions outscored the Tomcats in points in the paint (48-36) and fastbreak points (11-8)

Up Next:

* Behrend remains on the road with a trip to Pittsburgh on Monday, Nov. 18 to take on Carnegie Mellon. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.