ERIE, Pa: In its final regular season contest, Pitt-Greensburg fell on the road at Penn State Behrend Saturday afternoon, 91-64.
UPG finishes the regular season 13-12 overall and 13-5 in the AMCC, earning the #3 seed heading into the conference tournament. The Bobcats will host #6 D'Youville College in a AMCC first round playoff matchup this Tuesday (Feb 24).
On Saturday, the Bobcats played the top seeded Lions without several key players in the lineup. Head Coach Sean Strickland opted to get some his regular players some much needed rest heading into playoffs.
The Bobcats hung tough in the first half against Behrend, who played all their regular players. The Lions used a late first half run to pull ahead 49-36 at the half.
In the second half, the Lions flexed their muscle and maintained their double-digit lead for the remainder of the contest.
Pitt-Greensburg was led by two of their regulars,
Jarrett Shannon and
Rocco Contristano, who each scored 15 points on the day. Shannon had a game high 5 three point baskets in the defeat.
Tyler DeWitt was the only other Bobcat to score in double digits, adding 13 points while grabbing 6 rebounds in 24 minutes of work.
With his 15 points on Saturday, Contristano now sits at 972 points for his career, just 28 shy of becoming the 9
th 1,000 point scorer in Pitt-Greensburg men's basketball history. Rocco's teammate, Brian Heinle, just recently became the 8
th member of the exclusive 1,000 point club.
Rocco and the Bobcats will hopefully have a few more games to go this season, starting with their first round matchup against #6 D'Youville College this Tuesday at 8pm in Chambers Hall. The two teams split the regular season, with each team winning on the other's home floor. UPG will make sure that doesn't happen again as they aim for their first conference crown since the 1999-2000 season.
