McDonough's Heroics Help Men's Basketball Past Pitt-Bradford

BRADFORD, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's basketball won the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Game of the Week, edging Pitt-Bradford 72-71 on the road on Wednesday night.

Score: Penn State Behrend 72, Pitt-Bradford 71
Records: Penn State Behrend (7-7, 2-1 AMCC), Pitt-Bradford (7-7, 1-2 AMCC)

Key Moments:

* Matt McDonough (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 16 seconds left to help the Lions hold on for the win
* Tied at 69-all and after a Behrend timeout, McDonough put the Lions ahead by three
* Jeremy Rodriguez got his jump shot to fall eight seconds later to make it 72-71
* The Panthers the final shot with one second left but it did not fall
* Pitt-Bradford led the entire game until the 7:40 mark of the second half when Tommy DiRienzo (Pittsburgh, PA/Bethel Park) had an unconventional three-point play to give the Lions the lead for good
* The Panthers tied it on two occasions and Behrend posted its biggest lead at five points down the stretch
* Locked at 69-all with two minutes left, neither team would score until McDonough's heroics off a pass from Mason Blankenberg (Ontario, NY/Wayne)
* DiRienzo led with a season-best 24 points and Blankenberg tallied his season high with 15 points off the bench
* Both teams shot 49 percent from the floor and shot around 80 percent from the free-throw line
* Pitt-Bradford built a 15-point lead by the 4:18 mark of the first half
* Behrend slowly chipped away at the lead and the defense held the Panthers to 29 points in the second half

Up Next:

* The Lions return to action on Saturday at Pitt-Greensburg. Game time is 2 p.m.