GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team was slowed down by non-conference opponent Grove City College on Wednesday night, as the Lions were defeated 78-68 by the Wolverines in the Grove City College Arena.

Penn State Altoona (14-7) entered the contest averaging 82.7 points per game, but the Lions were limited to 68 points, a 37.9 percent field goal percentage, and a 23.1 percent three-point success rate by their Presidents' Athletic Conference foe.

Penn State Altoona finishes its slate of non-conference games this season with a 4-1 record.

"Tough loss tonight against a very tough team in a tough environment. We were hoping to finish off our non-conference schedule undefeated, but I am very proud of going 4-1 in non-conference games," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "We just ran into a really good team that's playing really well right now. We didn't play well enough on the defensive end and didn't make shots when we needed to."

Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) scored a game-high 23 points for the Lions while securing four rebounds. Cameron Gardner-Nicholson (Philadelphia, PA/Boys' Latin Charter) finished with his team-high eighth double-double of the season, grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds and scoring 11 points to go along with two shot blocks.

Austin Krise (Allport, PA/West Branch) scored nine points, tallied a team-high four assists, and grabbed three boards, and Robbie Hicks (Rockledge, FL/Rockledge) added nine points, four rebounds, and two steals off the bench.

Grove City (15-7) was led in scoring by James Wells, who finished with 20 points. Erik Meiners contributed 18 points off the bench for the Wolverines, and Justice Rice added 17 points.

Penn State Altoona trailed Grove City 34-30 by the end of a tightly-contested first half.

Krise's layup and Jack Kusters' (Quakertown, PA/Lansdale Catholic) jumper helped the Lions to an 8-6 lead just over three minutes into the game. But a three-pointer by Rice, layups from Josh Brown and Wells, and a pair of Wells foul shots put Grove City up 15-8 by the 12:15 mark. Several minutes later, a 6-0 run by the Wolverines – capped by Nate Peters' layup at 7:38 – gave the home team a 25-15 advantage.

Penn State Altoona closed the gap to four before the end of the half. Harman's dunk at 4:48 made it a five-point game, 27-22, and Krise's three-pointer at 2:55 kept the difference at five, 32-27. Gardner-Nicholson's dunk 19 seconds before the buzzer trimmed his team's deficit to 34-30.

The Lions opened the second half by getting to within one point of tying the score on two different occasions. Trey Butterworth's (Clarence, PA/Bald Eagle) three-pointer eight seconds into the period made it 34-33, and Krise's layup a minute later kept his team within one, 36-35.

But Grove City responded with a 9-0 run to reestablish a double-digit lead, 45-35, by 17:10. A pair of three-pointers by Meiners over the next several minutes helped expand the Wolverines' advantage to 55-43, and Wells' jump shot at 11:01 made it 59-43. Another trey from Meiners at 9:24 put the home team up by 18 points, 62-44, its largest lead of the night.

Penn State Altoona whittled away at its deficit, helped by an 11-2 run. The rally included two three-pointers, a layup, and a foul shot by Harman, along with a Hicks jumper, to bring the Lions back to within nine, 64-55, at 7:22. Harman's bucket at 3:25 made it a nine-point game again, 72-63, and Gardner-Nicholson's free throw at 2:37 cut the Grove City lead to eight.

But the Wolverines answered with six straight points, including another three-pointer from Meiners that gave his team a 78-64 lead with 1:35 to play. The Lions got layups from Harman and Dominic Frucella (Duncansville, PA/Hollidaysburg) within the final 1:21 of the game, but it was too late for Penn State Altoona to make up any more ground.

Now, the men's basketball team will prepare for a crucial four-game stretch of Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference games to end its regular season schedule. The Lions will start that stretch on the road this Saturday, February 15, facing AMCC opponent Penn State Behrend at 2:00 p.m. in Erie – a place that Penn State Altoona has never won.

"Now, we have to focus on our tough final four games in conference and make sure we take care of business and keep working to host a first round playoff game," said McGreal. "First things first, we are looking to make some history this weekend at Behrend."