DiRienzo Becomes Men’s Basketball All-Time Leading Scorer In Win At Hilbert

HAMBURG, N.Y. – Senior Tommy DiRienzo (Pittsburgh, PA/Bethel Park) became Penn State Behrend men's basketball team all-time leading scorer in an 84-77 victory at Hilbert Wednesday night.

Score: Penn State Behrend 84, Hilbert 77
Records: Penn State Behrend (12-11­, 7-7 AMCC), Hilbert (13-10, 6-8 AMCC)

Noteworthy:

* With 7:44 remaining in the second half, DiRienzo converted a three-point play to surpass Russ Conley's (2009-13) 1,771 career points
* Out of 346 players of record to score in Behrend basketball history, DiRienzo now holds the top spot with 1,779 career points and counting

Key Moments:

* The first seven minutes of Wednesday' contest were back-and-forth, but a James Wesling (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) layup would knot the score at 12 and propel a 9-0 Behrend run in the next two minutes
* Hilbert responded with a 14-3 run of its own to take a 30-29 advantage with five minutes left in the half
* The Hawks would take a 38-33 with 1:44 left; however, the Lions would end the first half on a 5-0 run in the final minute to grab a one-point lead heading into halftime (39-38)
* Wesling (13 points) and DiRienzo (12 points) led Behrend in the first 20 minutes, while Quran Briggs (14 points) and Larry Morse (12 points) tallied double-digit first half points
* Behrend came out strong in the second half, taking a 10-point lead (50-40) three minutes into the half
* Hilbert would once again respond with a 12-2 run to tie the score at 52-all and force a Lions' timeout
* Out of the timeout, both teams would trade the lead with Behrend registering a 66-63 advantage on a Matthew McDonough (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) three-pointer with 8:17 remaining in the contest and never looking back
* The Lions went up by as many as 10 points, but the Hawks were able to cut the deficit to only two with 26 seconds left
* McDonough and DiRienzo made their free throws down the stretch to secure Behrend's seventh conference win of the season
* DiRienzo finished with a game-high 30 points and a team-high six rebounds. To go along with his milestone, this marks the fourth game this season and 11^th of his career with 30 or more points
* McDonough recorded 19 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the field, while Nate Edwards (Girard, PA/Girard) chipped in 11 points and four assists
* Off the bench, Wesling delivered a career-high 13 points with three baskets coming from beyond the arc
* Morse (29 points) and Briggs (28 points) accounted for a combined 57 of Hilbert's 77 points on Wednesday. Morse also pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds
* As a team, Behrend outscored the Hawks off turnovers (14-13), in the paint (50-48), and off the bench (18-6)
* All-in-all Wednesday's contest saw 12 ties and 10 lead changes

Up Next:

* Behrend is on the road again this time at Pitt-Bradford on Saturday, Feb. 15. Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m.