Behrend Men's Basketball Edged at Pitt-Greensburg

Courtesy of John Leisering 

GREENSBURG, Pa. - The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team had a 77-73 setback to Pitt-Greensburg Saturday in an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) tussle at Chambers Hall.

Score: Pitt-Greensburg 77, Penn State Behrend 73
Records: Pitt-Greensburg (11-7, 5-4 AMCC); Penn State Behrend (9-9, 4-5 AMCC)

Key Moments:

* Penn State Behrend jumped out to a 17-11 lead in the first seven minutes, but didn't score again until 8:07 remaining in the half
* After falling behind by six, the Bobcats outdistanced the Lions 29-20 the rest of the way to assume a 40-37 lead at intermission
* Dolan Waldo (Pittsburgh, PA/Bethel Park) led the Lions with nine first-half points, shooting 4-of-6 from the floor, including one triple
* Leading scorer, senior Tommy DiRienzo (Pittsburgh, PA/Bethel Park), was held without a point in the first twenty by the Pitt-Greensburg defense, missing his only two shots 
* Pitt-Greensburg opened a six-point lead (51-45) early in the second half, but the Lions caught up and claimed their last lead at 54-53 with eleven-and-a-half to go
* The Bobcats then went on a 12-2 run to lead by nine, 65-56, with 8:28 left and hung on from there
* Behrend rallied to trail only 75-73 with eight seconds left, but Pitt-Greensburg made two free throws for the final margin
* The Lions have lost their last two contests, both on-the-road, by a combined seven points
* The teams split the season series, Behrend having prevailed 79-72 in Erie on December 7
* DiRienzo (19.5ppg) and second-leading scorer, Matthew McDonough (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) (15.6ppg) were held to a combined 16 points on 6-of-18 shooting
* Junior Mason Blankenberg (Ontario, NY/Wayne) led the Lions with 22 points
* Waldo added 12 and freshman Nate Edwards (Girard, PA/Girard) chipped in with 11
* The Bobcats finished with four players in double digits, led by Matthew Marinchak with 19
* Behrend was better from the floor overall (50% to 47.3%), made one more triple (7-6) and held its own on the boards (26-29), but was outdistanced at the line
* Pitt-Greensburg finished 19-for-23 from the stripe while the Lions converted 6-for-13

Up Next:

* The Lions will play the final game of their three-game road trip when they travel to AMCC-rival Carlow on Tuesday, the 28th, at 5pm.