AMCC Men's Basketball Game of the Week:
Penn State Behrend @ Penn State Altoona
Saturday, January 15 at 4:00pm
Video | Live Stats
The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team will play on the road in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Game of the Week against the Penn State Altoona Lions on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.
The Behrend Lions are on an eight-game winning streak after defeating La Roche on Wednesday, 75-74. Kenny Fukon and PJ Gourley both had 22 points to lead Behrend in the victory. Fukon needs eight points to become the 23rd player in Behrend history to hit the 1,000-point mark and is also averaging 22 points per game over the last four contests. The Behrend defense has only allowed 70 or more points twice this season and are tied for 17th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 62.0 points per game. The Behrend Lions have not lost a game this season (7-0) when shooting better than their opponent. Six different players have hit double-digits in scoring this season for Behrend.
At 11-2 overall and 6-0 in the AMCC, the Penn State Altoona men’s basketball team is off to its best start in program history and sits atop the conference standings. The Lions have been getting it done at both ends of the court. On offense, the team is scoring a league-best 88.8 points per game while also ranking first in the conference in field goal percentage (48.0), three-point percentage (37.7), and free throws made (249). On defense, Penn State Altoona ranks second in the conference in points per game allowed (78.8) while being first in the AMCC in steals per game (10.3) and blocks per game (4.6). Junior guard Robbie Hicks leads Penn State Altoona in scoring with 14.8 points per game, while fellow junior guard/forward Andruw Harman is averaging 12.2 points per game and a team-high 6.6 rebounds per game. Freshman guard Varun Ajjarapu is contributing 11.1 points per game, and Saivon Word is scoring 10.5 points per game to go along with a team-high 4.7 assists per game and 2.0 steals per game.
Behrend holds a sizable advantage over Altoona with an all-time record of 47-6-1. In 2019-20, the two split the season series, while Behrend has won six of the last eight matchups.