Cresson, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's basketball team used a strong defensive performance to pick up a road victory over Mount Aloysius on Saturday.
The Panthers got on the board before the start of play, as Lennon Lindholm converted a free throw after a pregame administrative technical. Lindholm then followed that up with an open layup of the first possession of play to put the Panthers up three. Pitt-Bradford slowly increased their lead throughout the half, limiting the hosts from putting together any rallies to cut into their advantage. With five minutes left in the half, Phillip Wallace converted an old-fashioned three-point play to extend the lead into double-digits. The Mounties answered with two quick buckets, but a layup from Jeremy Rodriguez and a free throw from Nathan Schneider sent the game to the break with the Panthers leading 26-17.
After halftime, Mount Aloysius opened the scoring with a three on their first possession, but the Panthers followed that up by locking down on defense, allowing the hosts to score just 4 points in more than 11 minutes of game time. In that span, B.J. Williams scored 6 points, while Wallace and Schneider each scored 5, allowing the PAntehrs to push their lead to 20 points. Down the stretch, the Panthers were able to coast to victory, as the Mounties continued to struggle to score, finishing with just 37 points. In the final ten minutes, the Panthers looked to their bench for scoring as Gus Napoleon scored 10 points in the half and Jeremy Rodriguez added 7 of his nine in the same span. The Pitt-Bradford lead reached a high of 38 points after a pair of Jackson McManus free throws with a minute to go. The Mounties were able to score 5 in the final minute of play to bring the game to a 70-34 final score.
Nathan Schneider notched his 4th double-double of the season, finishing with game highs in points, 14, and rebounds, 13. Phillip Wallace also finished with 14 points on 5-8 from the field. Gus Napoleon added 10 points and 4 steals off the bench, while Jeremy Rodriguez scored 9 and had 5 steals.
The Panthers move to 7-6 on the season and 1-1 in AMCC play. The Panthers will be back in action on Wednesday night as they will take on Penn State-Behrend in KOA Arena for another crucial AMCC tilt. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m.
