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ATOONA, BEHREND SEASONS END IN ECAC SEMIFINALS

ATOONA, BEHREND SEASONS END IN ECAC SEMIFINALS

The Penn State Altoona and Penn State Behrend men's basketball team's postseason runs came to an end on Saturday afternoon in the ECAC semifinals at Rutgers-Newark Golden Dome. Fourth seed Penn State Altoona suffered an 86-81 loss to nine seed William Paterson University in the semifinal round of this weekend's ECAC Division III Championship Tournament, while third seed Penn State Behrend saw their season come to an end on Saturday with a loss to second seed Rutgers-Newark.

Penn State Altoona held a 45-44 lead at halftime of Saturday's game, but William Paterson was able to maneuver into the lead during the second half to edge out the Lions by five points. Saivon Word scored a team-high 17 points for Penn State Altoona. Mason Bush added 14 points and six rebounds, and PJ Charles produced 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

The Lions received double-digit scoring from just two players, Kenny Fukon and Tommy DiRienzo. Fukon led the team with 13 points and DiRienzo finished with 11. The 50 points scored was the lowest offensive output from Behrend this season, as the Lions were outscored 28-18 in the first half. Stefan Milinkovic scored a season and career-high five points for Behrend while collecting three rebounds and a steal. The Lions lost the rebound battle 38-19 and shot just 24.0 percent from three-point range (6-25).