BEHREND ADVANCES, ALTOONA BOWS OUT OF ECAC MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Penn State Behrend sophomore guard Andy Niland hit the go-ahead three with 44 second left in the game to help the Lion men's basketball team defeat SUNY Canton, 68-65, in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) quarterfinals.
Niland finished the game with 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half to help the Lions (20-7) advance to the semifinals on Saturday evening against Westminster at 6 p.m. The Titans defeated DeSales 93-81 to advance.
After trailing the Roos (20-9) the whole game, Niland found an open shot and rattled in a triple to put Behrend up 65-63 with 44 second remaining. 14 seconds later, Canton's Sam Annorh missed an open three to give the Lions the ball back. Sophomore forward Dan Wanker found Justin Gorny under the hoop for an easy layup, putting Behrend up by four with just 19 seconds left to play. After responding with a layup of their own, the Roos sent Niland to the line where he made his first attempt, but missed the second. With nine second left, Canton had one shot left to tie the game, but the Lions forced a turnover to seal the deal. The Roos (20-9) jumped out an early 5-0 lead and kept the pressure on Behrend throughout the first half with the help of early three's. The Lions faced two 10-point deficits throughout the night, including the final one with a little over eight minutes to play in the game. However, Behrend outscored Canton from that point on down the stretch, 23-9, to mount the late comeback.
Senior guard Malquan Pullium finished the game with a team-high 19 points, shooting 54.5 percent (6-for-11) from the floor and draining three triples. Gorny finished the game with a double-double after scoring 15 and pulling down a team-high 10 rebounds.
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The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team's season came to an end on Wednesday night, when the Lions lost 82-57 to Bethany College in the first round of the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Championship Tournament at Hummel Fieldhouse.
Bethany (16-12) advances to face Moravian College, the top seed in the ECAC Tournament, this Friday, March 3, while Penn State Altoona (14-14) is eliminated from the bracket.
Lion senior guard Javon Wilson led all scorers with 26 points. With that point total, he moved into a tie for first place on the men's basketball program's single season scoring list with 493 points scored this season. Wilson shares first place with former Lion Kirk Peters, who also scored 493 points during the 2009-2010 season. Junior guard/forward Ishimeal Nance added 10 points and tied for the team-high in rebounds with eight, and he also finished with three steals and two blocks.
Despite shooting 36.7% in the first half, Penn State Altoona was able to hang around and found itself down by only eight points by the intermission.
Bethany grabbed a 13-4 lead three minutes into the game following Javonte' Trujillo's three-pointer and Calique Jones' jumper, but Penn State Altoona closed the gap over the next several minutes. Smith's layup at 14:24 cut Bethany's lead to five, and Nance's fastbreak bucket at 12:05 kept the difference at five. Wilson hit a jump shot 30 seconds later to make it 17-14. After the Bison increased their lead to 22-14 at 10:47 after a Williams jumper and Jerron Athey three-pointer, the Lions used a trey from freshman guard Andrew Gal and jumper from sophomore forward Marshall Higley to make it a five-point game again. Senior guard Quinn Luhr connected from three-point range at 8:48 to cut Bethany's lead to two points, 24-22. Two three-pointers by Wilson helped to keep Penn State Altoona within five points, 34-29, by 3:55. But another three from Trujillo, as well as Rudolph's fastbreak dunk, put Bethany's halftime lead at 39-31.
But the Lions' offensive struggles caught up with them in the second half, as the team shot 22.5% in the final period of the game while Bethany continued to put consistent points on the board. Wilson opened the second half with a three-pointer at 19:49 that made it 39-34, but Bethany embarked on an 11-3 run over the next four minutes. Free throws from Williams and Jones helped the home team to its first double digit lead of the night, 45-35, and Williams' trey at 15:50 made it 48-37. Two foul shots by Trujillo at 15:17 gave the Bison a 50-37 advantage. Two free throws from Wilson, along with senior guard Tay Charles' jumper, helped Penn State Altoona make it a 50-41 game by 13:12. But Bethany expanded its lead from there on out and never looked back. Williams and Davis connected on jump shots to put their squad ahead by 18, 61-43, by 9:45, and Chaice Truex added a three-pointer 40 seconds later to make it 64-43. Penn State Altoona fought to close the gap over the remainder of the second half. Wilson connected from three-point range twice, once at 7:33 and again at 6:30 to make it a 15-point game, 66-51. Another Wilson basket and a transition score from Nance made it 69-57 with 3:16 to play. But Bethany widened its lead in the closing minutes, getting a fastbreak layup by Jones at 1:31 and three-pointers from Aiden Albert and Lance DeZee within the final minute to take its largest lead of the night, 82-57.