SALISBURY, Md. – The Penn State Altoona men's basketball returned to action on Sunday afternoon, when the Lions took an 89-81 loss from non-conference foe Salisbury University in the Maggs Physical Activities Center.

A pair of scoring runs by Salisbury (4-3) were key in the Sea Gulls' victory over Penn State Altoona (2-4). With the score tied 28-28 in the first half, Salisbury used a 13-0 run to create a strong lead by halftime. Midway through the second half, with the score even at 59-59, a 12-1 run by the Sea Gulls propelled the home team to a double-digit lead late in the game.

"Tough road loss against another top quality athletic program. A couple gyms we've walked into this season have NCAA plaques and championships, and it's a good experience for our guys to see how the other half of Division III lives," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "With that being said, we let that one slip away, and I felt we were the better team. We lost our poise a little in the last 40 seconds, which led to free throws that sealed the game."

PJ Charles (Altoona, PA/Altoona) posted his second double-double of the season for Penn State Altoona, scoring a team-high 21 points and tying for the game-high in rebounds with 10. Charles shot 9-for-11 from the field, was 3-for-5 at the free throw line, and chipped in four assists.

Andruw Harman (Chesapeake, VA/Great Bridge) added 16 points and nine rebounds, and Alex McClellan (York, PA/West York) scored 12 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists.

Saivon Word (Upper Marlboro, MD/Frederick Douglass) and Robbie Hicks (Rockledge, FL/Rockledge) scored nine points apiece, with Word also contributing four rebounds, four assists, and three steals and Hicks nabbing three steals. Dwayne Jones (Philadelphia, PA/Greater Johnstown) and Mason Bush (Pittsburgh, PA/Seneca Valley) had eight and six points, respectively, off the bench.

Salisbury's Greg Bloodsworth and Brandon Craig tied for the game-high in points with 22 apiece. Cameron Heard totaled 13 points, Sean Carr had 11, and Jordan Oates chipped in 10 for the Sea Gulls.

Salisbury worked its way out to a modest early lead and boosted it to 17-10 following a three-pointer from Bloodsworth at 15:06. A Carr jump shot at 12:22 put the Sea Gulls' lead at six points, 21-15.

Penn State Altoona knotted things up behind a 6-0 run, getting baskets from Jones, McClellan, and Bush to tie the score 21-21 by the 10:40 mark. After Salisbury jumped back in front by six, two layups from Harman and a bucket by Jones evened the score at 28 at 6:19.

However, Salisbury reeled off a 13-0 run over the next several minutes to leap ahead by 13, 41-28, with 2:52 remaining in the half. Heard's jumper at 2:04 gave the home team its largest lead of the period, 43-29. Late baskets from Harman and Charles, along with a pair of McClellan foul shots, cut into the Sea Gulls' advantage, and Salisbury went into halftime with a 43-35 lead.

Penn State Altoona started the second half on a 6-0 run, courtesy of Word's three-pointer and a layup and foul shot from Charles, to narrow the deficit to two, 43-41. Later, McClellan's trey and a Word layup kept the difference at two points, 57-55, with 12 minutes remaining. The Lions proceeded to tie the score over the next two minutes on baskets from Word and Jones, as Penn State Altoona drew even with Salisbury, 59-59, by the 10-minute mark.

Salisbury responded by outscoring Penn State Altoona 12-1 through 7:22 to establish an 11-point lead. The Sea Gulls kept their advantage at 11 points by 4:50, following baskets from Bloodsworth, Carr, and Andrew Silver. Another Bloodsworth bucket at 3:58 put the home team up by 13, 79-66.

Penn State Altoona whittled away at the Salisbury lead, getting back to within four points with just over a minute left following McClellan's layup. Charles' layup with 41 seconds to play kept the Lions within four, 81-77.

But Salisbury made six free throws – including two from a technical foul – and a layup over the remainder of the period to help ice the win for the home team.

"Same old, same old with us struggling with fundamentals. This game it was making layups, as we missed 10 layups in the first half," said McGreal. "Now, we have a little break to get prepared for a tough stretch of games coming up starting at Marietta."

Penn State Altoona men's basketball will face another quality non-conference opponent on the road for its next game, as the Lions will travel to Ohio on Tuesday, December 6 to face Marietta College at 7:30 p.m.