ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team took a detour from regular season play on Tuesday evening, when the Lions lost 77-51 to Division I Mercyhurst University in an exhibition game at the Owen McCormick Court.

Penn State Altoona (5-5) recovered from a sluggish start to make it a game by halftime, but Mercyhurst (6-6) started the second half on a big run and outscored the Lions 44-23 overall in the period to come away with the victory.

"I was really impressed with how we played, especially in the first half. We proved we could defend and rebound against good competition, but once again, just like last Saturday, it was turnovers that killed us," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "The start of the second half, you could tell that their coach got into them, because they came out with more intensity, and we didn't match it. In turn, they took control after that."

Penn State Altoona got a team-high 11 points from Braelen Cage (Lorton, VA/Hayfield Secondary), highlighted by a 3-for-3 performance from three-point range. Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) added nine points, and Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) secured a game-high 11 rebounds while scoring seven points. Jalen Martinez (Brooklyn, NY/New Hope Academy) also had seven points and grabbed four boards.

Jeff Planutis finished with a game-high 21 points for Mercyhurst, while Jake Lemelman scored 17 points for the Lakers.

Mercyhurst scored the first seven points of the game, and Penn State Altoona did not get on the board until Claar sank a pair of free throws at the 15:10 mark of the first half. The Lakers boosted their lead to 10 points, 12-2, after a Lemelman three-pointer at 14:21.

But the Lions began to settle in, getting back into the game by halftime. A three-pointer from Zion Bruce (Kihei, HI/Maryknoll) and layup by Abiah Charles (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) cut the Mercyhurst lead to 12-7, and back-to-back treys from Cage made it a three-point difference, 16-13, by 9:59. Cage made two foul shots at 7:45 to keep Penn State Altoona within three, 18-15.

Five straight points from Shemar Rathan-Mayes helped Mercyhurst increase its lead to eight, 23-15, by the 6:30 mark. But Claar's three-point play and Kal-El Gentles' (Austin, TX/San Juan Diego) jump shot made it a four-point game, before Cage hit his third three-pointer of the period to trim the Lakers' advantage to 26-23 at 4:52. After Nehemiah Frye's (King George, VA/King George) basket kept Penn State Altoona within three, Martinez connected on a three-pointer at 2:33 to knot the score at 28-28.

Over the remainder of the half, Mercyhurst responded with two Deshaun Jackson layups and a Rathan-Mayes free throw, and the Lakers took a 33-28 advantage into the intermission.

Mercyhurst continued its run in the second half, outscoring the Lions 18-1 over the first five-and-a-half minutes to extend its lead to 51-29. After that, Penn State Altoona got two layups from Martinez, a three-pointer by Elliot Johansson (Stockholm, Sweden/Tibble Gymnasium), and a jumper from Frye to narrow its deficit to 15 points, 53-38, by 10:19.

After the Lakers' lead surpassed the 20-point mark again, free throws by Jones and Claar put the Penn State Altoona deficit at 21, 63-42, by 4:25. The Lions added points to their total from Jones, Claar, Brendan Abell (Severna Park, MD/Severna Park), and Jonathan Barkley (Accokeek, MD/Gwynn Park) over the closing minutes of the game, but Mercyhurst finished with a 26-point victory.

Penn State Altoona finished the night with a 31-30 edge in rebounds, but the Lions were hurt by their 26 turnovers.

"We outrebounded them and held them to only five made threes, and those were goals we had going in," said McGreal. "Now, we focus back on our regular season and hopefully head into Christmas break with a big win on the 21st in Virginia."

After a short respite from intercollegiate competition, the Lions return to action on Saturday, December 21, when the team will complete its home-and-home season series with Regent University by traveling to Virginia Beach to take on the Royals in a 2 p.m. matchup.