Lions Hang On, Defeat Piedmont for Eighth Straight Win
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team recorded its program-best eighth consecutive victory on Sunday afternoon, when the Lions fended off Piedmont University 77-75 in the first day of the Mauro Panaggio Classic, hosted by SUNY Brockport at DME Academy.
Penn State Altoona (10-1) came back from a small halftime deficit, working its way into the lead and holding on to clinch the win.
"Really huge non-conference win against a very tough, resilient team in Piedmont. They've dealt with injuries and travel the past couple weeks, and they played their tails off and gave us everything we could handle," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal.
Robbie Hicks (Rockledge, FL/Rockledge) scored a team-high 17 points for the Lions while also grabbing five rebounds. Casey Parkins (Laurel, MD/Atholton) added 15 points of the bench, going 3-for-3 from three-point range and 6-for-7 from the field overall. Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) added 10 points and a team-high five assists.
"It's hard to concentrate and focus on basketball when you spend the day on the beach, and for a lot of guys, it was their first time. But I'm proud of them for staying focused and taking care of business on the court today, and hopefully we'll do the same tomorrow against a very good Brockport team," said McGreal. "Casey had another good game scoring the basketball, and Robbie – playing in front of a lot of family and friends – led the way."
Piedmont (5-3) got a game-high 18 points from Jordan Foote, while Justin Quick contributed 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Penn State Altoona bounced back from a 14-7 deficit midway through the first half to tie the score later in the period. Parkins hit a three-pointer at 9:32, and layups by Saivon Word (Upper Marlboro, MD/Frederick Douglass), Varun Ajjarapu (Tampa, FL/Berkeley Prep), and Alex McClellan (York, PA/West York) knotted the score 16-16. McClellan's free throw at 5:30 capped the 10-2 run for the Lions, putting them up 17-16.
Hicks' three-pointer at 3:59 set the score at 24-24, and Harman's put-back basket 37 seconds later gave Penn State Altoona a 26-24 advantage. However, Piedmont countered with a 10-2 run of their own and built a 34-28 lead following Quick's layup at the 18-second mark. Harman's jumper with 10 seconds left in the period established the halftime score, 34-30.
Penn State Altoona overcame the modest halftime deficit at 14:47 of the second half, when Harman's layup tied the score 44-44. 49 seconds later, Harman hit two foul shots to put the Lions up by two. Over the next several minutes, Penn State Altoona used a pair of Parkins three-pointers and layups from Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley) and PJ Charles (Altoona, PA/Altoona) to expand its lead to nine points, 56-47. A steal and layup from Ajjarapu and dunk by Parkins boosted the Lions' advantage to 13 points, 60-47, with 9:27 to go.
Piedmont chipped away at the Lions' lead in the closing minutes of the contest. Quick's layup at 6:50 brought his team back to within single digits, and he hit a three-pointer 28 seconds later to narrow Penn State Altoona's lead to 67-60. A pair of Foote layups made it a four-point game, 71-67, with three minutes to go, and Andrew Stimpson's trey with eight seconds remaining cut the Lions' advantage to three points, 75-72.
But despite Piedmont's comeback efforts, Penn State Altoona managed to maintain its lead throughout the latter stages of the game to finish in the win column.
"Now, it's time to have a little fun, watch film on Brockport, and hopefully leave here 11-1 after tomorrow," said McGreal.
Penn State Altoona wraps up its Florida trip tomorrow, Monday, December 20, for day two of the Mauro Panaggio Classic, when the Lions will take on host school SUNY Brockport at 12:00 p.m.
