ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team's 2019-20 season came to an end on Wednesday night in the Adler Arena, when the Lions suffered a narrow 79-76 defeat at the hands of Hood College in the first round of the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Championship Tournament.

The Lions, who entered as the number two seed in Pod 2 of the ECAC Tournament bracket, are eliminated from the tournament. Hood, the third seed in Pod 2, moves on to face number one seed Drew University this Friday, March 6 at 8:00 p.m. in the quarterfinal round.

Penn State Altoona (16-12) took a one-point lead into halftime, but Hood (17-10) came out in the second half with a 12-0 run to grab an 11-point advantage. The Lions battled back to tie the score and came close to reclaiming the lead in the game's closing minutes, but the Blazers pulled out the tight win to advance in the tournament.

"Very disappointed in the outcome of tonight's game, but you've got to tip your hat to Hood College. They're a very good, very talented team, and they made a few more plays down the stretch than we did, as well as a few more shots and free throws than we did," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "We battled back after going down early in the second half, and I'm proud of the guys for that, tying the score different times and giving ourselves an opportunity to win. But the mark of a good basketball team or player is to try and learn from your mistakes, and it just seems like, down the stretch, we made some similar mistakes that we made in previous games that we weren't able to finish with a win."

Penn State Altoona got a game-high 18 points from Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge), who also finished with eight rebounds, three blocks, two steals, and two assists. Cameron Gardner-Nicholson (Philadelphia, PA/Boys' Latin Charter) scored 12 points while leading all players on the night with nine rebounds and four blocks. Jack Kusters (Quakertown, PA/Lansdale Catholic) also scored 12 points to go along with five rebounds.

Robbie Hicks (Rockledge, FL/Rockledge) provided 10 points and seven rebounds, while Trey Butterworth (Clarence, PA/Bald Eagle) and Clevon Scott (Raeford, NC/Hoke County) scored seven points apiece. Austin Krise (Allport, PA/West Branch) chipped in five points.

"I'm very proud of this senior class. They're going to be remembered very well as a group that has had three winning seasons in the four years that they were here, as well as a lot of great accomplishments, including having seasons with the most, second-most, and tied for third-most wins in program history," McGreal stated. "I'm proud of Trey and Cam especially, being four-year guys, and Austin being here for three years, and Clev being here two years. They have really helped turn this program into a competitive program that a lot of people respect around here, and they should be very proud of that."

Michael Riley led Hood with 16 points and six rebounds. Keith Claiborne, Jr. added 15 points for the Blazers, and Mason Wang scored 14 points.

Penn State Altoona used two Kusters three-pointers and a Butterworth jump shot to work its way out to an 8-5 lead two minutes into the contest. With the score tied 11-11, Krise connected from three-point range and Hicks scored a layup to give the Lions a 16-11 advantage, and Hicks hit a three-pointer at 14:31 to put his team up 19-12.

Back-to-back baskets from Harman and Scott gave Penn State Altoona a 24-14 lead – what would be the Lions' largest lead of the game – at the 12:54 mark. Butterworth's trey at 10:10 kept his team up by eight, 28-20.

Hood countered with a 9-0 run to jump ahead on the scoreboard. Three-pointers from Lual Chol and Wang started the run, and Wang's layup and foul shot at 8:13 put the Blazers in front, 29-28. Ryan Hollwedel's three-pointer two minutes later tied the score 34-34, and two Riley foul shots gave Hood a 36-34 advantage at 5:42.

Wang's layup with 51 seconds left in the half put Hood up 42-41, but Harman responded with a basket at the 27-second mark that helped Penn State Altoona to a 43-42 advantage by the intermission.

The Lions got off to a slow start in the second half, and Hood capitalized by embarking on a 12-0 run. Evan Wang's three-pointer and Mason Wang's layup started the second half scoring, before Riley hit a three-pointer and made a layup. Two free throws from Riley at 17:35 got Hood to its largest lead of the evening, 54-43.

Penn State Altoona chipped away at its deficit over the next several minutes to slowly climb back into the game. Kusters' layup and two Harman free throws got the Lions back to within seven, and two layups from Gardner-Nicholson helped Penn State Altoona close the gap to 56-51 by 14:37. Hicks' three-pointer and Scott's layup cut Hood's lead to three, and Alex McClellan (York, PA/West York) connected from beyond the arc at 11:01 to tie the score, 60-60.

After five straight points by Evan Wang and a layup from Chol helped the visitors to a 67-64 lead, Penn State Altoona reclaimed on back-to-back baskets from Gardner-Nicholson, the second of which was a dunk that put the Lions ahead 68-67 with 6:59 to play.

But Hood responded right away, as Claiborne converted on a three-point play to put the Blazers back in front by two, 70-68. Claiborne made two layups over the next minute-and-a-half to extend Hood's lead to six points, 74-68.

Penn State Altoona punched back again, getting a jump shot from Kusters and foul shot by Gardner-Nicholson to make it a three-point game, 74-71. Gardner-Nicholson's layup at 3:41 cut the Blazers' lead to two, and Harman's foul shot with 2:38 on the clock made it a one-point difference, 75-74.

The teams exchanged points over the next 1:30, with Hood getting two points on a layup by Tyler Evans, and the Lions answering with a pair of Harman foul shots. Mason Wang's layup with 51 seconds remaining gave the Blazers a 79-76 advantage.

Penn State Altoona came up scoreless on its next possession, and a late offensive rebound by Hood allowed the Blazers to run out the clock and secure the win.

"Now, we're just going to take some time off to rest, recover, and recuperate," said McGreal. "The guys who'll be returning will need to understand what it's going to take for us to get over that next hump, whether it be a conference championship or ECAC championship."