Men’s Basketball Wins Program-Record Ninth in a Row; Harman Reaches 1,000
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team extended its win streak to a program-record nine games on Wednesday night, when the Lions improved to 10-1 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference with a 97-68 victory over Pitt-Greensburg in the Adler Arena.
The Lions (14-7, 10-1 AMCC) turned in another balanced effort at both ends of the floor in the victory, and senior guard/forward Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his Lions career, becoming the seventh player in team history to do so.
"Extremely excited to continue this roll we're on. This group set another school record with their ninth straight win, and we were really locked in on defense, especially in the first half. Our guys did a really good job of shutting down JoJo France, their leading scorer, by keeping the ball away from him and not letting him get clean looks. Offensively, we got into a groove midway through the first half and were able to get easy shots in transition," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "Really excited for Druw, my first true recruit to score 1,000 points here. To see him do that tonight when the team gets a big win makes tonight extra special, as well."
Penn State Altoona's Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley) led all scorers in the game with 21 points, helped by a 3-for-5 showing from three-point range. PJ Charles (Altoona, PA/Altoona) added 17 points and tied for the game-high in rebounds with eight.
Saivon Word (Upper Marlboro, MD/Frederick Douglass) contributed 14 points, and Harman finished the night with 13 points, eight rebounds, and game-highs with eight assists and four steals.
Pitt-Greensburg (9-13, 5-6 AMCC) got 16 points from Micah Jones, 10 points and seven rebounds from Octavius Hardy, and 12 points from Matthew Marinchak.
The teams battled through a tight opening stanza of the first half, before Penn State Altoona began to pull away later in the period.
Three-pointers from Jones and Marinchak helped Pitt-Greensburg to an 8-6 advantage two minutes in, and Marinchak's jumper kept the Bobcats within two, 17-15, by the 15:04 mark. Another basket by Marinchak cut the Lions' lead to 20-19 at 13:13.
Penn State Altoona used a 7-0 run to gain a nine-point advantage later, when a Jahmar White (Yigo, Guam/St. Paul Christian School) jump shot, a Jarrett Gardner (Live Oak, FL/Suwannee) three-pointer, and a Robbie Hicks (Melbourne, FL/Rockledge) layup made it 31-22 by 7:43. Pitt-Greensburg was able to close the gap to three points following treys by Jones and Hardy, but Penn State Altoona responded with two Harman baskets and a Word three-pointer to boost its lead to 10 points, 40-30. Word's layup at 1:09 made it 43-33, and the Lions' held a 10-point halftime lead.
After Pitt-Greensburg started the second half with a France three-pointer, Penn State Altoona embarked on a 13-2 run that was highlighted by back-to-back three-point plays converted by Charles. Bush's three-pointer at 15:49 gave his team a 61-42 advantage, and his layup at 10:17 increased the Lions' lead to 21 points, 71-50. Bush's basket and foul shot at 9:31 made it 74-52, and two Charles free throws and layups from Word and Harman helped make it 83-55 with 6:35 to play. Penn State Altoona led by as many as 31 later in the period, as the Lions earned another comfortable AMCC win.
"We turned our defense into offense at a high rate in the second half," said McGreal. "We kept our defensive intensity while switching a little bit from man to zone to confuse them, as well."
The Lions finished the evening with a 50-36 advantage over Pitt-Greensburg in rebounding while outscoring the Bobcats 52-18 in the paint and 18-6 in transition.
Penn State Altoona continues its important three-game AMCC homestand this Saturday, February 11, when the Lions will host Penn State Behrend at 2:00 p.m. The team's senior day festivities will commence at approximately 1:45 p.m.
"Now, we have our two biggest home games in school history this Saturday against Behrend, which is also senior day, and then against La Roche next Wednesday," said McGreal. "Hopefully, we can take care of business and continue to take steps toward our main goal, which is our second straight regular season conference championship and getting the opportunity to host the conference tournament."
