Both the Penn State Behrend (20-9) and Penn State Altoona (16-12) men's basketball seasons came to a heartbreaking close in the first round of the ECAC basketball postseason tournament. Behrend fell to Westminster College (16-11) 95-94 in triple overtime, while Hood College (17-10) defeated Penn State Altoona 79-76.
Preston Stitt made the game-winning layup with 2.3 seconds left in the third overtime to lift the Westminster men's basketball team past Penn State Behrend 95-94 in the first round of the 2020 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) on Wednesday night. The Titans battled back from being down in each overtime to bring the Lions' season to a halt. Behrend had a five-point lead in the first and second overtime and four-point edge in the third. Stitt had the free throw in first OT to force a second, while Isaac Stamatiades drained his second triple to send it to a third overtime period. The first four out of six points in the third overtime belonged to the Lions for a 92-88 lead. Westminster went on a 7-2 run in the final 3:42 to continue their season. The Titans took a 93-92 lead with 1:32 remaining and Tyler Gates made the layup to put Behrend up by one. Stitt drove in the paint with time expiring for the final basket.
Westminster took a 32-26 lead into the locker rooms. Behrend held a 43-37 advantage in the second half on 53.1 percent shooting from the floor. The Titans forced the Lions to turn over the ball a season-high 20 times. Gates registered his second double-double with a career-high 14 rebounds and 14 points. Gates was one of five players with double-figure points. Devin Pope posted a team-best 26 points, while Kenny Fukon added 19 points and Mitchell King dished out a career-high eight assists while adding 13 points.
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.
Penn State Altoona took a one-point lead into halftime, but Hood 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.
Penn State Altoona got a game-high 18 points from Andruw Harman, who also finished with eight rebounds, three blocks, two steals, and two assists. Cameron Gardner-Nicholson 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.
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.