MARIETTA, Ohio – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team continued its challenging early season schedule against another strong Division III regional non-conference opponent on Tuesday night, when the Lions fell 82-67 to Marietta College at the Ban Johnson Arena.

Penn State Altoona (2-5) fell behind early, then battled back later in the first half. But Marietta (5-2) established a double-digit lead just before halftime, and the Pioneers widened the gap during the second half.

"Very proud of the effort our team showed tonight," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "We battled toe to toe with a team that played in the Final Four last year, and we were without PJ [Charles]."

Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) stepped up for the Lions with his first double-double as a member of the team, providing a team-high 20 points and a game-high 11 rebounds off the bench while blocking five shots and recording three steals. Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley) also contributed 11 points off the bench for Penn State Altoona.

Robbie Hicks (Rockledge, FL/Rockledge) and Saivon Word (Upper Marlboro, MD/Frederick Douglass) added nine points apiece, Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) scored eight points, and Jarrett Gardner (Live Oak, FL/Suwannee) had six points.

"Big time performance by the second unit tonight, especially Dwayne, Mason, and Justin Sheetz, bringing energy and effort at both ends of the floor. Jarrett stepped in and played his best game of the season, as well," said McGreal. "But the bottom line is that we have to be better at the basics. We missed 15 layups and nine free throws and turned it over 22 times. When you do that against anyone, you'll struggle."

Marietta was led by a game-high 21 points from Lovenson Xavier, and the Pioneers also got 13 points from Sahmi Willoughby.

After Harman's dunk opened the scoring 12 seconds into the game, Marietta reeled off 10 straight points to create an eight-point lead by 17:03. Jayden Bradshaw's layup at 13:57 gave the home team a 10-point advantage, 14-4.

Penn State Altoona countered with a 7-0 run to narrow its deficit to three, getting a three-pointer from Bush, a jumper from Hicks, and a dunk from Jones to cut Marietta's lead to 14-11 by 11:48. The Lions made it a one-point game later, as layups from Gardner and Hicks whittled the Pioneers' advantage down to 16-15 by the 7:28 mark. After Marietta boosted its lead back to eight points, another Bush three-pointer and a Word layup got the Lions back to within three, 26-23, with 3:04 remaining in the half.

But Marietta outscored Penn State Altoona 12-4 over the rest of the half and went into the locker room with a 38-27 lead.

Early in the second half, a layup from Gardner brought Penn State Altoona's deficit down to 10 points, 39-29, by 18:46. However, Marietta scored the next six points to increase its lead to 16, 45-29, by the 16:01 mark, and the Pioneers would lead by as many as 21 later in the period.

"Now, we head into these final three games of the semester hoping to build on this effort, tighten up on our fundamentals, and get on a streak heading into break," said McGreal.

Penn State Altoona has three more non-conference regular season games remaining this semester, as well as an exhibition contest. The Lions' final stretch of the semester begins at home this Friday, December 9, when the team will host Albion College at 6:00 p.m.

After the calendar flips to January, Penn State Altoona will embark on its 14-game Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference regular season schedule.