Men’s Basketball Gets Past Hilbert for 91-86 Win
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team got back in the win column Saturday afternoon in Adler Arena, where the Lions used a strong second half performance to earn a 91-86 victory over Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Hilbert College.
Hilbert (11-7, 4-5 AMCC) led by as many as 11 points during the first half and went into the intermission with a 43-39 advantage. But Penn State Altoona (11-7, 7-2 AMCC) surged ahead in the second half, when they shot 65.4 percent from the floor.
"So proud of this team for the bounce back win coming off a tough loss. We buckled down, even after another slow start, and got a very important conference win," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "In the first half, we just weren't doing the things that we talked about during practice the last couple days, and we were playing uninspired basketball the first 20 minutes. But, in the second half, we came out and started to assert ourselves offensively, which in turn made us lock in more on defense. Mixing up the defenses a little helped, as well, but our ability to take them out of their stuff they like to run really made it difficult for them to score."
Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) scored a game-high 24 points for Penn State Altoona while also leading his team with eight rebounds and three blocks. Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) finished with 17 points and a game-best four steals, while Kal-El Gentles (Austin, TX/San Juan Diego) contributed 14 points and tied the game high in assists with seven.
Hilbert got 21 points from Quran Briggs, 19 points from Larry Morse, and 14 points from Shaheem Ellis, who eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career with the Hawks.
Jones' seven points within the first two minutes of play helped Penn State Altoona establish a 7-2 advantage, and baskets by Claar and Nehemiah Frye (King George, VA/King George) put the Lions up 11-8 by the 16:11 mark. Three minutes later, Michael Baskerville (Damascus, MD/Damascus) made a layup to break a 15-15 tie and put Penn State Altoona back into the lead.
But Hilbert went on an 8-0 run, capped by an Austin Boies three-pointer at 9:39 that gave the Hawks a 23-17 advantage. Three minutes later, Briggs connected from deep to give Hilbert a 32-22 lead, and Morse's basket at 4:08 made it an 11-point game, 37-26.
Penn State Altoona chipped away at its deficit the rest of the half, outscoring Hilbert 13-6. Baskerville's tip-in layup off of an inbounds lob pass from Gentles beat the intermission buzzer, and the Lions went into the locker room down by four, 43-39.
Jones' jump shot and Claar's putback started the scoring in the second half and tied the game at 43-43 for Penn State Altoona. After the teams exchanged points over the next several possessions, the Lions began to pull away for good. Claar's basket at 13:01 put his team up 54-49, and his three-pointer at 11:44 made it 59-51. A minute and a half later, Baskerville hit a jumper to put the difference at seven, 63-56.
Hilbert got back to within three, 67-64, following an Ellis three-pointer at 7:05, but the Lions rattled off a 9-0 run after that, getting a layup and two free throws from Jones, a basket by Gentles, and a three-pointer from Abiah Charles (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) to extend their lead to 10 points, 76-66, with 5:07 to go. A layup from Charles preceded Gentles' foul shot at 4:06 which gave Penn State Altoona its largest lead of the day, 79-68.
After that, baskets by Claar, Gentles, and Jones allowed Penn State Altoona to remain at an 11-point advantage, 83-72, with two minutes remaining, and the Lions held on to their lead to clinch their seventh AMCC victory of the season.
"Happy to get the split with Hilbert," said McGreal. "Now we focus on trying to get our first sweep of the year when we head to Greensburg on Wednesday."
Penn State Altoona men's basketball will travel for its next game, going to Westmoreland County to face AMCC foe Pitt-Greensburg this Wednesday, January 29, at 7 p.m.
