Behrend Tripped Up By Pitt-Bradford Despite DiRienzo’s Game-High 34 Points

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team was unable to get past Pitt-Bradford in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Game of the Week Saturday afternoon.

Score: Pitt-Bradford 85, Penn State Behrend 81
Records: Pitt-Bradford (12-1, 5-0 AMCC), Penn State Behrend (7-7­, 2-3 AMCC)

Key Moments:

* The fast paced and back-and-forth first half between the Lions and Panthers saw the biggest lead only being six points (23-17) by Behrend on a Sam Petrarca (Peters Township, PA/Peters Township) layup 10 minutes into the half
* Saturday's first half saw five ties and 10 lead changes with both teams going into the halftime deadlocked at 39
* Tommy DiRienzo (Pittsburgh, PA/Bethel Park) scored a first half-high 15 points to go along with six rebounds for Behrend, while Pitt-Bradford received double-figures from Jamarion Butler (12 points) and Jeremy Rodriguez (10 points) in the first 20 minutes
* The second half was much of the same as the first with neither team able to pull away by more than six points and consisted of 19 lead changes and 10 ties
* The score was knotted at 72 apiece with 4:42 remaining when the Rodriguez delivered two straight baskets to put the Panthers up four (76-72)
* Pitt-Bradford took its biggest advantage of the game of seven points (82-75) with 43 seconds left in the contest
* Some missed free throws by the Panthers and a DiRienzo putback layup cut the Lions deficit to two (83-81) with seven seconds remaining
* However, Pitt-Bradford was able to knock down a pair of free throws and secured its conference-leading fifth win with a steal to end Saturday's game
* All-in-all Saturday's contest had 38 lead changes and 20 ties
* DiRienzo registered a game-high 34 points on 11-for-16 shooting from the field and 11-for-13 from the free throw line. He also grabbed seven rebounds
* This marks DiRienzo third game this season and 10^th of his career with 30 or more points
* Junior Matthew McDonough (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) was the other Lion to notch double-figures, finishing with 17 points and five rebounds
* Mason Blankenberg (Ontario, NY/Wayne) tallied nine points, while Petrarca recorded eight points and three assists. Blankenberg and Petrarca both pulled down a team-high eight rebounds
* Off the bench, Michael Sopko (New Castle, PA/Neshannock) chipped in nine points to go along with a season-high four blocks
* Butler led the Panthers with a double-double of 26 points and 11 rebounds. Off the bench, Rodriguez scored 18 points on 7-for-8 shooting
* As a team, Behrend outrebounded Pitt-Bradford (41-32) and outscored the Panthers in the paint (52-30)

Up Next:

* The Lions are back in the Junker Center on Wednesday, Jan. 15 against Hilbert. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.