Second-Half Surge Lifts Lions Over D'Youville

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team had three players in double figures, led by Russ Conley's (Transfer, PA/Reynolds) team-high 16 points to defeat D'Youville 67-54 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action on Wednesday night.

Nick DeLisio (Aliquippa, PA/Central Valley) added 15 points and Shane Skelly (Westlake, OH/Westlake) chipped in 11 to help the Lions (13-5, 9-2 AMCC) keep their undefeated streak against the Spartans (2-15, 1-9 AMCC) with a 10-0 mark in the all-time series.

For the second straight game, D'Youville's Oliver Prince registered a double-double. Tonight he led all scorers with 23 rebounds and 17 boards. Prince also dished out three assists and made two steals in the losing effort.

It was a battle of the front court in the conference match up with Oliver turning double digits in the first half and Conley nearly there with eight points for a one-point difference between the teams at the break.

The Spartans relied on 52 percent shooting from the floor to hold a 30-29 edge after the first 20 minutes. Behrend had a 21-12 lead with 7:54 left in the half, but D'Youville went on a 10-run to get back in the game and close the gap to one point.

The tables were turned in the second half in favor of the Lions. Behrend made 50 percent of their shots and outscored the Spartans 38-24 for the 13-point victory.

The stingy Lions' defense allowed just one field goal in the first seven minutes of the second half and the offense got help from DeLisio's back-to-back triples for a 41-32 lead with 12:48 remaining.

The single-digit advantage quickly became double on a pair of layups from Conley and a three-pointer from Casey Courneen (Sewickley, PA/Quaker Valley) to make it 48-35.

Prince did not back down and scored six points in two minutes down the stretch, but it wasn't enough to get D'Youville its first win over Behrend.

In addition to 15 points, DeLisio made a game-high five steals and four assists. He also went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe to help the Lions finish the game 12-for-14 from the line as a team.

Behrend returns to action on Saturday at Mt. Aloysius. Game time is 3 p.m.