Lions Hang On For Win; Hand La Roche First AMCC Loss

ERIE, Pa - The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team handed La Roche their first Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) loss of the the season Wednesday night, 86-84.

The Redhawks (12-4, 8-1 AMCC) and Lions (11-5, 6-3 AMCC) played a high-paced game which featured three ties and six lead changes throughout.

Dan Wanker (Pittsburgh, PA/South Park) had a career-high night, scoring 19 points and adding eight rebounds. The sophomore forward went 7-for-9 from the floor and shot a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.

Andy Niland (Fairview, PA/Fairview) added a team-high 24 points after going 7-for-15 from the field and shooting perfect from the charity stripe, making all eight attempts.

Malquan Pullium (Erie, PA/Strong Vincent) and Mike Fischer (Wexford, PA/North Allegheny) also added double-digits in the win. Pullium dropped 14 points after shooting 64 percent while Fischer added 10.

The Lions shot 51.7 percent as a team including nine made three pointers.

Behrend controlled the majority of the first half thanks to an 11-0 run over a four minute span, making the score 16-5 with a little under 12 minutes to go. Despite never giving up a larger lead for the remainer of the half, La Roche failed to come within more than five points of the Lions and took a seven-point deficit into the half, 37-30.

Wanker entered the break with 10 points while Niland had nine. Redhawks guard Ray Quan Phifer led all scorers with 11 and would finish the game with 26.

La Roche went to work in the second half. They started the final strech on an 11-4 run to tie the game at 41 with 17 minutes remaining. For the next five minutes both teams traded baskets until Behrend started to mount another run of their own. Connor McLaughlin (Ashtabula, OH/Edgewood) drained a three at the 9:20 mark to put the Lions up 65-55.

Behrend continued to pressure the Redhawks for the next seven minutes and eventually took their largest lead of the night after Niland drained two free-throws, making the score 77-65.

With two minutes remaining in the game, La Roche put togther their final big run to bring the score within one after two made foul shots by Phifer. With the score 83-82 with only 11 seconds left, Fischer was sent to the line and drained both of his shots to take the game to 85-82 in favor of the Lions.

La Roche quickly answered with a layup, making the score 85-84, and followed up by fouling Fischer and sending him back to the line. After making the first shot, Fischer missed the second which gave the Redhawks one more opportunity.  

Phifer found the ball in his hands with one second left and got a clean shot off from 25 feet out, but failed to make the three, giving Behrend the 86-84 win. 

The Lions will be back in action this Saturday when Franciscan comes to town. Game time is set for 4 p.m.