ERIE, Pa.: Despite huge performances from Rocco Contristano (Pittsburgh, PA, Keystone Oaks) and Jerell Figueroa (Dover, PA, Dover Area), the Pitt-Greensburg men's basketball team fell at Penn State Behrend on Sunday afternoon, 87-79.

The Bobcats and Lions both now sit at 5-1 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference play, just a half-game behind first place Hilbert.

Behrend had a hot shooting first half and went into the locker room with a 50-33 lead. They would extend that lead to 20 points early in the second half, but the Bobcats would not go away quietly.

With Behrend up 55-35 at the 17:36 mark of the second half, Pitt-Greensburg would go on a 35-14 run over the next twelve minutes to take a one point lead with 5:43 remaining in the contest.

Figueroa took over during that stretch, accounting for 16 of those points. Mike Connelly (Butler, PA, St. Joseph) hit a pair of huge three-pointers, including the dagger that gave UPG the one point lead. Contristano and Marcus Thomas (Uniontown, PA, Uniontown) accounted for 7 and 4 points respectively during the comeback.

However, Behrend would respond with an 18-9 run to pull away from the Bobcats in the closing minutes. The Lions' stingy defense held Pitt-Greensburg to only three field goals in the final five minutes of the game.

Figueroa led Pitt-Greensburg with 27 points and Contristano was not far behind with 25. Connelly was the only other Bobcat that scored in double digits with 13 points. Contristano pulled down 11 boards for a double-double, and Thomas also added 10 rebounds.

Pitt-Greensburg returns to Chambers Hall on Wednesday to take on the Redhawks of La Roche College in an important AMCC matchup. Tip-off is set for 6:00pm.