ALTOONA, Pa. – A hot start to Wednesday night's game in Adler Arena propelled the Penn State Altoona men's basketball team to an 82-72 victory over visiting Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference foe Pitt-Greensburg.

Penn State Altoona (5-4, 2-0 AMCC) never trailed in the game, working its way out to a 19-7 lead midway through the first half en route to an eight-point advantage by halftime. The Lions upped their lead to as high as 18 points during the second half, dealing Pitt-Greensburg (3-4, 0-1 AMCC) the loss in the Bobcats' conference opener.

The Lions were helped by a defensive effort that limited Pitt-Greensburg to a 34.3 percent field goal percentage and forced 21 turnovers.

"Great bounce back win after Sunday's poor performance," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "As we talked about in practice the last couple of days, the most important thing is conference play and being able to start off 2-0 in conference was our goal."

The Lions' Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) led all players with 25 points and 17 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. Jones' rebounding total also tied for the ninth-most rebounds in a game in team history.

Kal-El Gentles (Austin, TX/San Juan Diego) contributed 18 points, seven rebounds, and a game-high four assists for the Lions, and Nehemiah Frye (King George, VA/King George) finished with 12 points and five boards.

Pitt-Greensburg got 21 points and 14 rebounds from Trent Rozich, and Michael Bigley scored 20 points while securing six rebounds. Joziah Wyatt-Taylor added nine points, and Matthew Marinchak chipped in eight points for the Bobcats.

"Great defensive effort from the guys tonight, especially in the first half," said McGreal. "I thought everybody guarding Marinchak did their job to a T. We took him completely out of the game in the first half, and they really struggled offensively. That enabled us to get the lead early and sustain it the whole game."

Jones scored the game's first basket 25 seconds into the opening period, before a Frye three-pointer and Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) layup gave the Lions a 7-2 lead. Jones' layup at 13:03 increased Penn State Altoona's advantage to double digits, 15-4, and an Abiah Charles (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) jumper at 10:47 made it 19-7.

A Jones layup and Charles three-pointer put Penn State Altoona's lead at 14 points, 26-12, by 8:16, and Gentles drained a jump shot at the seven-minute mark to make it 29-14. Pitt-Greensburg closed the gap to seven points on Wyatt-Taylor's layup at 2:46, which lowered the Lions' lead to 35-28. Penn State Altoona got a pair of late foul shots from Michael Baskerville (Damascus, MD/Damascus), and the Lions went into the intermission with a 40-32 advantage.

Three-pointers by Jones and Claar, along with a Frye two-point jumper, helped Penn State Altoona start the second half on an 8-2 run. Later, Frye's bucket at 14:21 increased the Lions' advantage to 56-38, their largest lead of the night.

Pitt-Greensburg slowly crept back into the game, getting to within six points, 76-70, after Ty Keffer's three-pointer at 2:40. But Jones hit a three-pointer shortly thereafter, and the Lions added a Claar foul shots and Jones layup to close the game with a 10-point win, 82-72.

Penn State Altoona finished its evening with a 21-7 advantage over Pitt-Greensburg in points off turnovers, as well as a 38-22 lead over the Bobcats in points in the paint.

Next up, the Lions will travel to western New York to face AMCC opponent Hilbert College this Saturday, December 7.

"Now, we prepare for our trip to the Buffalo area to play a really good Hilbert team in beautiful Hamburg, N.Y.," said McGreal. "We'll brave the snowbanks and be ready to play. Go Lions!"