Pullium Leads Lions Past Westminster

ERIE, Pa. – Malquan Pullium (Erie, PA/Strong Vincent) scored a career high 22 points to lead the Penn State Behrend men's basketball team past Westminster 80-74 Tuesday night. Pullium drained four three-pointers and added four steals to cap off a career night for the sophomore.

The Lions (2-0) led most of the first half but saw their lead diminish as Westminster (2-3) put together a 6-0 run to end the first half. Both teams went to the locker room nodded up at 33. 

The Lions caught fire from behind the arc in the second half, shooting 7 for 9 from three point land. After a pair of Zane Hackett (Brookville, PA/Brookville)  jump shots to start the second half, Pullium fired off three straight three pointers followed by a Jordan Grabowski (Pittsburgh, PA/Upper St. Clair) three-ball to give Behrend a double-digit lead with 16:12 remaining in the second half. Pullium followed Grabowski's three with an old-fashioned three point play to increase the Lions lead to 11.

Westminster worked their way back into the game and was able to cut the Lions lead to four with under a minute left to play thanks to clutch shooting by Cameron Pozsgai. Pozsgai scored 12 points in the game's final 11 minutes including six free throws in the final 1:09.

Behrend excelled at the foul line late in the game to halt the Westminster comeback. The Lions went 7-8 from the line in the final 42 seconds to seal the victory.

Four Lions scored in double figures for the second straight game. Nick DeLisio (Aliquippa, PA/Central Valley) scored 19 points and added seven assists. DeLisio went 4-5 from three point land and 7-8 from the foul line.

Keith Wallace (Erie, PA/Central Tech) and Wes Davic (Grafton, OH/Midview) both notched 11 points. Wallace added eight assists and three steals, while Davic grabbed eight rebounds.

Behrend returns to action Saturday at Allegheny. The start time is set for 4 p.m.