ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team clinched another regular season sweep of a conference opponent on Saturday afternoon, when the Lions earned an 80-77 victory over Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference foe Penn State Behrend in the Junker Center.

After a win at home over Behrend (11-11, 6-7 AMCC) earlier this season, Penn State Altoona (13-8, 9-3 AMCC) swept the regular season series with today's road win. Trailing midway through the first half, the Lions worked their way into the lead and built a 39-28 advantage by halftime. Penn State Altoona held off Behrend during the second half to seal its ninth conference victory of the season.

"Ecstatic about our performance today. The first half was the best half of basketball we have ever had here in Erie, especially defensively. Thank God [Mason] Kargo was hot early, because he kept us in the game until we all started turning it up," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "Winning here has been hard to do for our program, so to be able to pull off the sweep here in the Junker Center made it even more special."

Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) scored a team-high 19 points for Penn State Altoona, including going 6-for-7 from the floor with a 3-for-3 mark from beyond the arc. Kal-El Gentles (Austin, TX/San Juan Diego) scored 15 points and led the Lions in rebounds and assists with seven and three, respectively.

Mason Kargo (Portage, PA/Portage) shot 4-for-4 from the floor, including hitting a trio of three-pointers, and 3-for-3 at the foul line to finish with 14 points. Abiah Charles (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) brought 12 points off the bench. Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) and Nehemiah Frye (King George, VA/King George) chipped in nine and seven points, respectively.

Behrend's Tommy DiRienzo led all scorers with 29 points, while Nate Edwards had 15 points and Matthew McDonough scored 12 for the home team.

Behrend led early, getting a pair of Edwards layups and a DiRienzo three-pointer to establish a 7-3 lead by the 17:22 mark. Five points from Dolan Waldo and a jump shot by Isaac DeGregorio gave the home team a six-point lead, 14-8, at 12:54.

Penn State Altoona began to pick it up after that, helped by a Kargo three-pointer and two-point jumper that closed the gap to 18-17 three minutes later. Claar's trey at 8:37 kept the difference at one, 21-20, before three Gentles free throws at 7:30 gave Penn State Altoona a 23-21 lead. Claar connected from deep again shortly thereafter, and Jones' layup at 5:41 put the Lions up by six, 28-22. After layups from Claar and Charles, Kargo sank three foul shots at 2:12 to increase Penn State Altoona's lead to 10 points, 35-25. The Lions added buckets from Jalen Martinez (Brooklyn, NY/New Hope Academy) and Charles, and the visitors took a 39-28 lead into the break.

Gentles opened the second half scoring with a layup at 18:49 that gave Penn State Altoona what would turn out to be its largest lead of the day, 41-28. Claar's three-pointer two minutes later had the Lions up by nine, 44-35, and after Behrend trimmed its deficit to two points, Charles scored five points to put his team's lead at seven, 50-43. Frye and Gentles scored layups on consecutive possessions to give Penn State Altoona a 58-47 advantage by the 8:17 mark, and another basket from Gentles 27 seconds later got the Lions' lead back to 13 points, 60-47.

Behrend made another push after that, outscoring the Lions 15-5 over the next several minutes, with an Edwards three-pointer at 4:19 bringing the home team back to within three, 65-62. But Frye answered with a three of his own on the next possession, and the Lions did not allow Behrend to get any closer than three points the rest of the way.

Charles' layup and foul shot, three free throws by Jones, and a pair of foul shots from Claar set Penn State Altoona's lead at 76-69 with just under a minute to play. The Lions got a layup from Jones with 40 seconds left, then added one free throw apiece from Gentles and Claar, and Penn State Altoona escaped with a three-point conference road win.

Penn State Altoona finished the contest with a 55.1 percent field goal percentage, including shooting 8-for-16 from three-point range. The Lions held Behrend to a 42.9 percent field goal success rate, including limiting the home squad to a 9-of-28 performance from deep.

Next up, the men's basketball team returns to Altoona for its final two regular season home contests, starting with an AMCC matchup against Carlow University this Wednesday, February 12, at 7 p.m. in Adler.

"We will definitely enjoy the long ride home more this time around," said McGreal. "Then, we'll get ready for our final two home games of the year this week. Go Lions!"