PITTSBURGH – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team ended its regular season schedule with a win on Saturday afternoon, when the Lions overcame Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent La Roche University 64-62 at Coach Scott Lang Court.

Penn State Altoona (16-9, 12-4 AMCC) held a two-point lead at the conclusion of a low-scoring first half, and the Lions worked their way on top in the latter stages of a back-and-forth second half. La Roche (11-14, 8-8 AMCC) narrowed its deficit to two late, but Penn State Altoona withstood a flurry of shots in the Redhawks' final possession to escape with a tight victory.

"What an amazing game today. It was one of the first times where we played defense for 40 minutes and did just enough offensively to hang on for dear life," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "This marks the first time in program history where we swept both Penn State Behrend and La Roche, probably the two most prolific programs in the AMCC, in the same season, so we are overjoyed with how this season finished. We were picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll, and we finished tied for second. 16 regular season wins -- just so proud."

With the results from around the rest of the league on Saturday, Penn State Altoona will take the number three seed heading into next week's AMCC Tournament. The Lions will host six seed Hilbert College in Adler Arena on Tuesday, February 25, at 6 p.m. for a first-round AMCC playoff game.

"Now it's time to see if we can finally accomplish what has been our ultimate goal since I got here, and that's to win the AMCC Tournament and go to the NCAA Division III Tournament. But we've got to get ready for Hilbert on Tuesday first," said McGreal. "Pretty frustrating that we're not the two seed, but we had our chances, so we're just going to take it out on Hilbert Tuesday night. Let's pack Adler!"

The Lions' Kal-El Gentles (Austin, TX/San Juan Diego) scored a game-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) scored 15 and tied for the game high in steals with four, and Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) led all players on the day with 13 rebounds and three blocks.

Nehemiah Frye (King George, VA/King George) added nine points and a pair of blocks, and Michael Baskerville (Damascus, MD/Damascus) came off the bench to contribute eight points.

Bryce Epps led La Roche in scoring with 14 points, while Dominic Elliot and Isaiah Thomas had 10 points apiece for the Redhawks.

A layup from Claar and dunk by Jones gave the Lions the game's first points, before Gentles' three-pointer and layup put Penn State Altoona up 9-2 five minutes into the period. Baskets from Claar and Jalen Martinez (Brooklyn, NY/New Hope Academy) boosted the visitors' lead to nine points, 13-4, and another bucket by Gentles made it 15-6 at 11:34. Frye's jumper at 8:24 gave the Lions their biggest lead of the half, 20-10.

La Roche found some traction on offense to close the gap to two points by halftime. Buckets from Joe Starzynski and Epps, along with two free throws from Thomas, made it a four-point game, 20-16, with 6:22 on the clock. Epps hit a three-pointer with just under two minutes left to keep the difference at four, 22-19, and layups from Elliot narrowed Penn State Altoona's lead to 25-23 by the intermission.

Penn State Altoona started the second half on a strong note, outscoring the Redhawks 8-3 over the first two-and-a-half minutes. Claar's basket and foul shot, Mason Kargo's (Portage, PA/Portage) trey, and Gentles' layup put the Lions up 33-26 by the 17:24 mark. Gentles hit a jump shot at 16:11, and he sank a free throw 16 seconds later to keep the lead at seven points, 36-29. Penn State Altoona increased its lead back to double digits shortly after that, as a Claar free throw preceded his layup at 15:23 which gave the Lions a 39-29 advantage.

La Roche pushed back again, this time climbing back to tie the score. Threes from Major Rainey and Logan Golle helped the Redhawks dig into the Lions' lead, and two Rainey foul shots knotted the score at 39-39 at 13:34. Thomas' layup 36 seconds later kept the score even, 41-41.

Penn State Altoona countered with free throws by Baskerville and Gentles to make it 44-41, before Frye's layup and Baskerville's dunk kept the Lions up by three, 48-45. Abiah Charles (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) and Jones followed with layups to get Penn State Altoona's lead back to seven, 52-45, with 7:22 to go.

The momentum shifted back to the home team, as La Roche got seven straight points from Epps to tie the score at 52-52 by the 5:22 mark. Elliot made a pair of foul shots at 4:41 to keep the score tied, 54-54.

Penn State Altoona quickly reclaimed the lead on a pair of Jones foul shots, then added to it with a Baskerville layup and three-pointers from Frye and Claar that gave the Lions a 64-58 advantage by 2:50.

La Roche got back to within two, following free throws from Elliot and Thomas that made it 64-62 with 58 seconds to play. Following a missed shot on Penn State Altoona's next possession, the Redhawks took over and were able to pull the trigger on three shots, thanks to a pair of offensive rebounds, but the Lions successfully defended the lead and put their tough road win on ice.