BRADFORD, Pa. – The No. 3 Penn State Altoona men's basketball team suffered a heartbreaking loss on Saturday afternoon in the KOA Arena, where the Lions fell short, 92-90, to No. 1 seed Pitt-Bradford in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championship.

Penn State Altoona (18-10) led by one at the half, then went ahead by as many as 10 points midway through the second half. But Pitt-Bradford (23-3) came back and made enough plays down the stretch to eke out a two-point win, including surviving a flurry of last-second shots put up by the Lions.

"Amazing season. I hate that it had to end this way. These guys played great together all year, and they truly made me love coaching again," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "I feel terrible for Dwayne [Jones] and Dylan [Darkwah], as this was the last chance for them. They have done a lot for the program, and I really wanted this for them."

Kal-El Gentles (Austin, TX/San Juan Diego) put up the first triple-double in Penn State Altoona men's basketball history, finishing with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and a game-high 10 assists. Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) had his 10th double-double of the season for the Lions, leading all players in the game with 24 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks.

Nehemiah Frye (King George, VA/King George) also had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) scored 21 points.

Jones and Frye were both named to the AMCC All-Tournament team for their performances during the conference playoffs.

Pitt-Bradford got 20 points from Jesse Laster and 16 points from Jamarion Butler. Braylen Salters and Rodd Yarbrough added 12 points apiece for the Panthers, and Keshon Kittrell had 11 points.

Pitt-Bradford worked its way out to an 8-2 lead over the first minute and a half of the opening period, getting three-pointers from Kittrell and Laster, along with a Jeremy Rodriguez layup. Penn State Altoona responded by scoring nine of the next 11 points, as two Jones layups and Claar's two-point jumper and three-pointer gave the Lions an 11-10 lead by 17:12. Frye scored a layup, then made a pair of free throws to put Penn State Altoona ahead by three, 15-12, by the 16:29 mark.

The teams battled evenly throughout the rest of the half, with the score remaining close. After Butler's layup at 11:08 put the Panthers up 22-19, baskets from Claar, Jalen Martinez (Brooklyn, NY/New Hope Academy), and Jones brought the Lions back even, 25-25. Down 30-27 shortly thereafter, two foul shots from Jones and an Abiah Charles (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) jumper put the Lions back in front, 31-30.

Inside the four-minute mark, two Laster free throws and a Butler jump shot gave Pitt-Bradford a 42-37 advantage. But Penn State Altoona leapt ahead again, thanks to baskets from Charles and Jones and a pair of Gentles foul shots. Frye's layup at 1:14 gave the Lions a one-point lead, 45-44, and Gentles hit a jumper to beat the shot clock with five seconds remaining in the period, giving Penn State Altoona a 47-46 lead by the intermission.

Early in the second half, Jones' layup and Claar's foul shots began the scoring for Penn State Altoona, before two more Jones buckets and a Frye jump shot gave the Lions a 57-50 advantage by the 16:37 mark. Claar connected from beyond the arc at 15:12 to put his team's lead at 62-56, and Charles' layup a minute later made it 64-58. Penn State Altoona upped its lead to eight points, 68-60, by 12:37, after getting baskets from Gentles and Jones. The Lions made it a 10-point game at 10:35, when Frye hit a jumper to make it 72-62.

Pitt-Bradford answered with a 10-2 run to close the gap to two points. Coby Farley's layup and three-pointer made it 72-67, and a Salters trey and two Yarbrough free throws trimmed the Lions' lead to 74-72 by the 9:15 mark.

Claar drilled another three-pointer, then made a layup to help give Penn State Altoona some breathing room, making it 79-74. Frye tacked on two foul shots, and Michael Baskerville's (Damascus, MD/Damascus) dunk at 6:56 made it 83-75. Two Gentles free throws and a Frye layup got the Lions' lead to 87-80 with just under six minutes left.

But the Panthers fought back again to tighten things up. Butler's layup at 5:01 made it a three-point game, 87-84, and he made four foul shots over the next two possessions to put Pitt-Bradford into the lead, 88-87. Yarbrough's layup at 2:55 knotted the score at 90-90, and Kittrell gave the home team a 92-90 advantage on a layup with 38 seconds to go.

Out of a timeout, Penn State Altoona had multiple cracks to tie the game, as the Lions missed a three-pointer, then got three offensive rebounds to keep their possession alive. But Penn State Altoona was unable to connect on a trio of close-range shots, and Pitt-Bradford survived to prevail as AMCC champions.