PITTSBURGH, Pa. – In a matchup of the top two teams in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference standings on Thursday night at Coach Scott Lang Court, the Penn State Altoona men's basketball team came out as the victor, defeating La Roche University 87-77.

The win was Penn State Altoona's (10-7, 6-1 AMCC) fifth in a row, and it moves the Lions into first place in the conference standings.

Penn State Altoona beat La Roche (11-7, 6-1 AMCC) with a well-rounded effort. Offensively, the Lions shot 54.1 percent from the floor, including going 9-for-19 from three-point range. On defense, Penn State Altoona limited the Redhawks to a 37.5 percent field goal percentage.

"Couldn't be any prouder of these guys. With back-to-back road wins against the two programs that have been at the top of the league in recent years, it shows how far we have come as a program," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "An amazing, balanced attack and a big-time defensive effort were the keys. We held their leading scorer [Devon Darrell] way below his average, and we withheld a furious rally in the second half, refocused, and made big plays down the stretch."

Six different Penn State Altoona players finished with double-digit scoring totals.

Robbie Hicks (Melbourne, FL/Rockledge) led the Lions with 17 points, six assists, and two steals while also grabbing five rebounds. Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley) scored 13 points to go along with a season-high, game-high 12 rebounds to clinch his first double-double of the year.

Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) and Saivon Word (Upper Marlboro, MD/Frederick Douglass) also scored 13 points each, and off the bench, PJ Charles (Altoona, PA/Altoona) and Jahmar White (Yigo, Guam/St. Paul Christian School) finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) added 10 rebounds.

La Roche got a game-high 25 points from Joe Pipilo. Desmond Ross added 16 points, Devon Darrell had 12, and Joe Starzynski rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Redhawks with 11 points.

La Roche led for much of the first half, until Penn State Altoona made a late push to go ahead by one before halftime.

The Redhawks got back-to-back three-pointers from Ross and Darrell to go up by five points early in the opening half, and Starzynski's dunk at 13:31 put La Roche up 15-8. A pair of baskets from Isaiah Thomas midway through the period put the home team up 19-14, and back-to-back jumpers from Pipilo boosted La Roche's lead back to seven, 26-19, by the 7:03 mark. A Jordan Grayson jumper at 5:24 kept the advantage at seven, 28-21.

Penn State Altoona trimmed its deficit to one, 28-27, on Harman's layup at 4:35. A minute later, Bush's layup kept the difference at one, 30-29, until a Hicks free throw and Word three-point play put the Lions on top, 33-30. Hicks made a layup with 1:48 remaining in the half, and Penn State Altoona headed into the locker room with a 35-34 lead.

Penn State Altoona powered forward in the second half, growing its lead to as many as 19 points as the team put 52 points on the board during the period.

The Lions opened the half by staging an 18-2 run that included a trio of three-pointers from Harman. White connected from three-point range at 13:09 to cap the run and give Penn State Altoona a 53-36 advantage. Shortly thereafter, a pair of layups from Charles extended the Lions' lead to 19, 59-40, by the 11:07 mark. In total, the Lions outscored La Roche 24-6 over the first nine minutes of the second half.

La Roche responded by going on a big run of its own to get back in the game. Darrell's layup and foul shot at 9:36 cut Penn State Altoona's lead to 61-50, and Pipilo's three-pointer two minutes later narrowed it to 61-57. Starzynski's basket at 6:31 kept the home team within four, 63-59.

But Penn State Altoona answered with six straight points, using a Hicks layup and foul shot and a Bush trifecta to boost its lead back to double digits, 69-59, with 5:56 to play. Another Bush three-pointer at 4:49 made it 74-62, and baskets from Charles and Hicks got Penn State Altoona's lead back to 16 points, 78-62, with 3:12 to go. Bush's layup at 1:32 kept his team ahead by 16, 80-64, and the Lions were able to close out the hard fought conference road win.

Next up, Penn State Altoona men's basketball will return home for its next game this Saturday, January 28, when the Lions will seek revenge for their lone AMCC loss by taking on Hilbert College at 1:00 p.m.

"Now, we have to get some payback from the team that gave us our only conference blemish with Hilbert coming to Adler this Saturday," said McGreal. "Pack Adler!"