Bobcat men take down Penn State Behrend, 65-61
Box Score
GREENSBURG, Pa: Four Bobcats scored in double digits, and the Pitt-Greensburg men's basketball team added a signature win to its resume by taking down conference leader Penn State Behrend, 65-61 in front of the home crowd Saturday afternoon.
The win pushes the Bobcats to 6-4 in the league and sits them in sole possession of 4
th place with 8 games to play. The Lions drop to 8-2 in the league and sit tied with Hilbert for the top spot in the AMCC. It was the Bobcat's first victory over the Lions since the 2009-10 season and first under 4th year Head Coach Sean Strickland.
The game featured a back and forth first half, with each team exchanging leads. Behrend led by as many as 7 in the first half but it was the Bobcats who entered halftime with the lead, 38-34.
The Bobcats shot 13 of 25 (52%) from the floor in the first half including 7 of 14 from three point range. Behrend kept up with the pace, shooting 13 of 29 (45%) from the floor but the Bobcats limited the Lions to just 1 of 4 from beyond the arc in the first twenty minutes.
Neither team shot particularly well in the second half, with the Bobcats shooting just 9 of 24 (37%) from the floor and a poor 1 of 8 from three point range. However the Bobcat defense stepped up to the challenge and held Behrend to just 7 of 30 (23%) from the floor. Despite the poor shooting, and the fact that the Bobcats were outrebounded on the day 41-27, UPG never trailed in the second half and built a lead as big as 11 points, mid-way through the second half.
The Lions would battle back, cutting the Bobcat lead to just 2 points with under a minute to play. After a missed three pointer from
Jerell Figueroa, Behrend's Keith Wallace pushed the ball up the floor with less than 10 seconds remaining. Wallace cut to the hoop and went up for a game-tying layup only to have it blocked by UPG's
Mike Connelly. The ball went out of bounds off of Wallace's leg, giving the ball back to the Bobcats.
Rocco Contristano then knocked down 2 clutch free throws, icing the big win for the Bobcats.
Four Bobcats recorded double digit scoring efforts, led by Marcus Thomas who had 16 points and 5 rebounds. Contristano added 14 points and 6 rebounds while Figueroa chipped in 12 points and 7 assists. Rounding out the scoring for the Bobcats was Connelly, who in addition to the game-saving block, came off the bench to score 12 points in 17 minutes of work.
Behrend's Keith Wallace had 18 points and 6 rebounds to pace the Lions in the loss.
UPG will play look to make it three in a row at home when they host Franciscan University of Steubenville this Wednesday (Jan 29) in Chambers Hall. UPG won the previous matchup, 82-74 in Steubenville back on Dec. 4
th. Tip-off for Wednesday is set for 6pm.
