PITTSBURGH – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team is headed to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship game for the first time in program history.

The Lions, the second seed in the AMCC Tournament, overpowered sixth seed Pitt-Bradford 109-96 in Friday afternoon's semifinal round matchup at La Roche University's Coach Scott Lang Court. With the win, Penn State Altoona will face top seed La Roche tomorrow, Saturday, February 25, at 1 p.m. for the AMCC championship and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

As has been the story for much of the season, Penn State Altoona (17-8) was led by its offense. The Lions shot 56.8 percent from the floor as a team, including hitting 11 three-pointers, and the team outrebounded Pitt-Bradford (12-15) by a margin of 44-25.

Additionally, Penn State Altoona senior guard Robbie Hicks (Melbourne, FL/Rockledge) surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his collegiate career during the first half of Friday's game. Entering the contest needing 10 points to reach 1,000, he tied for the team lead in scoring with 20 points and becomes the eighth player in Lions history to surpass 1,000 points with the team.

Hicks finished the game by shooting 6-for-9 overall, including 4-for-7 from the three-point line, while also going 4-for-5 at the foul line. Saivon Word (Upper Marlboro, MD/Frederick Douglass) finished just shy of a triple-double, matching Hicks' total of 20 points while also dishing out a game-high 11 assists and securing eight rebounds to go along with a team-best three steals. Word went 8-for-11 from the field, and his total of 11 assists ties for the third-most in a game in Lions history.

PJ Charles (Altoona, PA/Altoona) earned his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, and he added five assists and a game-high three blocks. Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, and four assists, and Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) came off the bench to provide 14 points, five boards, and three helpers.

"So proud of what we just accomplished. I believe we learned a lot from last year, and the guys were super focused today," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "We didn't look ahead. We stayed on task and played offensively the way we are capable of playing every game. Led by Sai, Robbie, and Druw, this group was ready for today."

Pitt-Bradford got a game-high 28 points from Nathan Schneider, while Caden Beldin added 21 points for the Panthers.

In the first half, the score remained close until Penn State Altoona began to pull away in the latter stages of the period.

With the score tied 9-9, the Lions embarked on a 12-0 run that included eight points from Word to establish a 21-9 lead by the 13:05 mark. Pitt-Bradford responded by outscoring Penn State Altoona 14-6 over the next five minutes, including back-to-back layups from Schneider that narrowed the Panthers' deficit to four points, 27-23.

But Penn State Altoona began to take control, boosting its lead back to double digits on Hicks' trey at 5:39 that made it 39-28. Hicks connected on another three-pointer at 3:02 to make it 46-28, and the Lions added four more points on to their total over the rest of the half, courtesy of a Charles layup and foul shots from Hicks and Word. By the intermission, Penn State Altoona led 50-40.

Penn State Altoona's attack picked up steam early in the second half, when the Lions opened the period on an 11-2 run over the first two minutes. Three-pointers on consecutive possessions by Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley) put the Lions' lead at 56-42, and a three ball and two free throws by Bush made it 61-42 by 18:04. Three minutes later, Harman's dunk put Penn State Altoona ahead by 22, 70-48.

The Lions continued to maintain a strong lead the rest of the way. Alex McClellan (York, PA/West York) connected on a three-pointer at 13:51 to put his team up by 23 points, 75-52, and he sank another three ball two minutes later to keep the difference at 23, 80-57. Word's basket at 8:58 gave Penn State Altoona its largest lead of the afternoon, 88-64, and Justin Sheetz (Eldersburg, MD/Liberty) made a three-pointer at 3:50 to get the Lions to triple digits, making it 100-81.

By the game's end, Penn State Altoona had outscored Pitt-Bradford 58-40 in the paint and held a 34-16 advantage in bench points. The Lions' total of 26 team assists tied for the seventh-most in a game in program history, their total of 42 field goals made tied for eighth, and their total of 109 points tied for the ninth-most.

Now, Penn State Altoona men's basketball will prepare to compete in an AMCC championship game for the first time in program history, as the Lions will face La Roche on the Redhawks' home court. The two teams split their regular season matchups, with Penn State Altoona winning 87-77 in Pittsburgh on January 26 and La Roche prevailing 86-81 in Altoona on February 15.

"We have to stay focused for tomorrow and make sure we play better defense against a more balanced offensive team. But if we shoot, run, and share the ball the way we did today, we will be hard to stop," said McGreal. "To be able to say that Penn State Altoona is playing in the AMCC conference title game is an amazing feeling, but as we were saying in the locker room: 'Uno Mas!'"