ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team suffered its second Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference loss of the season on Wednesday night, when the Lions lost a hard-fought bout, 90-88, with league opponent Pitt-Bradford in Adler Arena.

Neither team led by more than nine points throughout a tightly contested, fast-paced game that included nine lead changes. Penn State Altoona (10-7, 6-2 AMCC) limited Pitt-Bradford (15-1, 8-0 AMCC), the top scoring offense in the conference, to a 35.3 percent field goal percentage while forcing the Panthers into 21 turnovers. But, down by three points at the half, the visitors did enough in the second half to edge the Lions by two.

"Really tough loss at home. I felt like we did a good job against their pressure, but there was a five- or six-minute stretch in the second half where they were kind of able to take control. I'm proud of the guys for fighting and clawing all the way to the end," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "We had a chance to tie near the end and couldn't get the layup to fall. We've got to execute better down the stretch, and that's on me."

Penn State Altoona had six different players finish with double-digit point totals, led by Kal-El Gentles (Austin, TX/San Juan Diego) and Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) scoring 18 apiece. Gentles also had five rebounds, three assists, and a block, while Jones recorded seven rebounds, four steals, three assists, and two blocks.

Nehemiah Frye (King George, VA/King George) contributed 13 points and three rebounds, and Abiah Charles (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) finished with 11 points. Jalen Martinez (Brooklyn, NY/New Hope Academy) added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds, and Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) scored 10 points to go along with four rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

Pitt-Bradford got a game-high 27 points from Xander Norris. Jamarion Butler scored 20 points for the Panthers, and Jesse Laster had a double-double with 18 points and a game-best 14 rebounds.

Penn State Altoona started the game by scoring the first six points, getting a Jones basket, a Mason Kargo (Portage, PA/Portage) layup, and a Jones dunk. Two more Jones buckets kept the Lions up by six, 10-4, by the 16:35 mark, and Frye's foul shot nearly two minutes later made it a seven-point lead, 11-4. Pitt-Bradford lowered its deficit to 14-11, following a pair of Butler free throws at 12:24, but Charles' layup and Martinez's basket and foul shot put Penn State Altoona ahead by eight, 19-11, a minute later.

Pitt-Bradford pushed back, tying the score at 19 on a pair of Norris three-pointers and a Laster layup. But Penn State Altoona responded with an 8-0 run, getting layups from Claar, Elliot Johansson (Stockholm, Sweden/Tibble Gymnasium), and Jones before Frye's jumper at the 9-minute mark put the Lions up 27-19. Penn State Altoona maintained its advantage and took its largest lead of the night, 37-28, on a Charles bucket at 5:48.

Pitt-Bradford managed to outscore the Lions 16-10 over the final five minutes of the first half, and the Panthers closed the gap to three, 47-44, by the intermission.

Penn State Altoona and Pitt-Bradford traded points early in the second half, with the lead exchanging hands multiple times. But, with the Lions up 65-63 at 12:57, the Panthers made a run to establish their biggest lead of the contest. Five points from Norris started the rally, and Keshon Kittrell's trey later capped it, giving Pitt-Bradford a 74-65 advantage at 10:53.

The Lions narrowed their deficit to three, 74-71, following a trio of successful trips to the foul line by Gentles, and his jumper at 8:07 made it a one-point game, 74-73. Penn State Altoona got back to within one, 76-75, at 6:22 on Gentles' layup, and Claar's three-pointer at 5:56 kept the difference at one, 79-78. Two minutes later, the Lions remained one point behind after a Martinez layup that cut the Pitt-Bradford lead to 84-83.

Pitt-Bradford did not relinquish its lead, as free throws from Xavion Boone, Laster, and Norris boosted the Panthers' advantage back to seven, 90-83, with 1:14 to play. A fastbreak dunk from Jones and a Gentles free throw trimmed Penn State Altoona's deficit to four, before Jones converted a steal into a layup to decrease the Panthers' lead to two, 90-88, with 26 seconds to go.

Another Pitt-Bradford turnover set up Penn State Altoona with a possession to potentially tie or take the lead, but the Lions were unable to score on a late layup attempt, and the Panthers escaped with a close win.

Next, Penn State Altoona men's basketball will host AMCC foe Hilbert College this Saturday, January 25, at 1 p.m., when the Lions will be looking to avenge their loss to the Hawks from earlier this season.

"We'll regroup and get ready to get payback against Hilbert to make sure we get the season split with them, then keep rolling into the second half of our schedule," said McGreal.