Mounties Hand Lions 80-62 Loss
CRESSON, Pa. – Penn State Altoona men's basketball suffered its fourth loss in a row on Wednesday night, falling 80-62 against local Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference rival Mount Aloysius College in the ACW Center.
Mount Aloysius (13-11, 10-9 AMCC) ran up a big lead in the first half, then protected it the rest of the way. Penn State Altoona (14-10, 10-9 AMCC) struggled to find success on offense, shooting just 36.1 percent from the field and going 6-for-27 from three-point range.
"Hats off to coach [Will] Cabrera and his team. They really took it to us and shot the ball incredibly well," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "It's been a rough couple of games, but we knew this stretch of our season was going to be tough."
Cameron Gardner-Nicholson (Philadelphia, PA/Boys' Latin Charter) scored a team-high 13 points for the Lions while grabbing four rebounds. Jack Kusters (Quakertown, PA/Lansdale Catholic) added 10 points, five rebounds, and two assists.
Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) finished with nine points and a team-high six rebounds. Austin Krise (Allport, PA/West Branch) added eight points and five boards, Trey Butterworth (Clarence, PA/Bald Eagle) recorded six points, five rebounds, and two assists, and Nate Gillen (Johnstown, PA/Central Cambria) chipped in five points off the bench.
Mount Aloysius got a game-high 21 points from Nate Christian, while Carlos Palacio had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Julian Stover also scored 16 points for the Mounties, and Trent McErlane added 10 points.
Mount Aloysius capitalized on a slow start by the Lions, jumping out to a 7-2 lead. Christian's three-pointer at 14:44 put the home team up 10-4, and back-to-back treys by McErlane and a Palacios jump shot helped to extend the Mounties' lead to 22-6 by the 10:33 mark.
Palacios' basket at 7:50 set Mount Aloysius' lead at 20 points, 31-11. Three-pointers from Jevon Griffin and Stover increased the Mounties' advantage to a game-high 24 points, 37-13, by the 6:02 mark.
Penn State Altoona put itself in a better position before the end of the half, ending the period on a 13-2 run to close the gap to 13 points by halftime. Three-pointers from Butterworth and Krise started the rally, followed by layups from Harman and Gardner-Nicholson. Kusters' three-pointer with 46 seconds left in the half made it 39-26.
The Lions started the second half scoring with a dunk from Harman, but a pair of three-pointers from Palacios followed to give Mount Aloysius a 45-28 lead. Krise's trey and Kusters' bucket cut Penn State Altoona's deficit to 12 points, 45-33, and a pair of jump shots from Robbie Hicks (Rockledge, FL/Rockledge) narrowed it to 10 points, 47-37, at the 13:06 mark.
But Mount Aloysius widened the gap over the next several minutes, and Penn State Altoona would not get any closer to tying the game. Stover's three-pointer at 9:55 gave the Mounties a 56-40 advantage, and jumpers on consecutive possessions from Azim Hutson made it 69-50 with 3:39 to play. Mount Aloysius went on to reestablish a 24-point lead with 1:48 remaining.
Next, Penn State Altoona men's basketball ends its regular season at home this Saturday, February 22 against AMCC opponent Hilbert College at 1:00 p.m. That game – as well as others around the conference – will have big implications for the upcoming AMCC Tournament. A victory by Penn State Altoona could help the Lions to a first round home game, while a loss could threaten to knock the team out of a playoff berth altogether.
"The reality is that we have already met certain goals this year, and now we just need to win one game at home to reach another goal, which is to get into the playoffs," said McGreal. "There are scenarios where we could get in even if we don't win, but if we win, we host a first round playoff game. So that's the plan – just win."
Saturday's game will also be Senior Day for the Penn State Altoona men's basketball team.
