Behrend Ends Regular Season on High Note Over Pioneers

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team ended the regular season with a convincing 79-46 win over Alfred State on Wednesday night.

Score: Penn State Behrend 79, Alfred State 46
Records: Penn State Behrend (14-11­, 9-7 AMCC), Alfred State (3-21, 2-13 AMCC)

Key Moments:

* Alfred State got off to a fast start on Wednesday
* The Pioneers took a 20-9 lead in the first eight minutes of the game thanks to six three pointers to force a Behrend timeout
* After the timeout, the Lions went on  a 32-6 run to end the first half, shooting 16-for-31 from the field and 7-for-16 from beyond the arc
* Tommy DiRienzo (Pittsburgh, PA/Bethel Park) led all scorers with 16 first half points for Behrend, while Mason Putnam had 11 points for Alfred State in the first 20 minutes
* The Lions continued its first half run with a 10-2 run to start the second half
* A DiRienzo three would give Behrend its biggest advantage of 37 (77-40) with 3:20 remaining en route to the Lions ninth conference victory of the season
* After being honored as the all-time leading scorer prior to the game, DiRienzo dropped a game-high 28 points on 11-for-12 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 from three to go along with five rebounds
* Junior Matthew McDonough (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) added 19 points, six assists, and five rebounds
* James Wesling (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) and Dolan Waldo (Pittsburgh, PA/Bethel Park) chipped in 11 and eight points off the bench
* Michael Sopko (New Castle, PA/Neshannock) tied Zane Hackett (2012-16) for third in single-game rebounds, tallying a career-high 16 boards and nine assists. Hackett recorded this feat back on January 9, 2016 against Franciscan
* As a team, Behrend made 13 three-pointers on Wednesday which is one shy of the team's single-game high this season
* Behrend also won the rebounding margin (42-19) and outscored Alfred State in the paint (30-16), off the bench (26-7), off turnovers (10-7), and second chance points (9-2)
* The Lions defense gave up a season-low 46 points to the Pioneers, only allowing them to shoot 34 percent from the field and 36 percent from three
* Prior to Wednesday's contest, DiRienzo and Isaac DeGregorio (Allison Park, PA/North Catholic) were recognized as graduating seniors
* Behrend now currently sits in fourth place in the conference standings

Up Next:

* The Lions await their fate for the first round of the AMCC Tournament as either being the fourth or fifth seed on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The conference regular season wraps up with four games this Saturday