Behrend Lions Handle Bethany in First Round of ECAC Tournament
The Behrend Lions and the Bethany Bison entered the Junker Center for the second time this season, and the result was the same on Wednesday night as the Behrend Lions advanced to the ECAC semifinals with a 73-69 win. Each game came down to the final few possessions, but finished with blue and white on top, including the first meeting on November 21, a 71-66 Behrend win.
The Behrend Lions and the Bethany Bison entered the Junker
Center for the second time this season, and the result was the same
on Wednesday night as the Behrend Lions advanced to the ECAC
semifinals with a 73-69 win. Each game came down to the final
few possessions, but finished with blue and white on top, including
the first meeting on November 21, a 71-66 Behrend win.
Behrend was led by senior Tom
Newman (Girard/Northwestern) who scored a game-high
22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in his final home game. The
visiting Bison trailed by eight in the opening minutes of the
second half before a 12-0 spurt put Bethany ahead 42-38 with 13:18
to play. Behrend would come back to tie the game at 45 with
11:44 to play and the score remained close for the next few
minutes.
With nine minutes to play the score was tied at 52 before Behrend
used a 11-2 run to grab a lead it would never relinquish.
Newman started the run with a 3-point bucket, fellow senior Drew
Seker (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial) followed up with a pair of
free throws, and Adam Kaiser (Erie/Cathedral Prep) knocked down a
3-pointer to help Behrend take a 60-52 lead with seven minutes to
play. After a layup by Bethany's Lance Beckwith, Kaiser
buried another jumper from long-range to give the blue and white a
63-54 lead with just under six minutes to go.
Bethany cut Behrend's lead to just two points (65-63) with two
minutes to play but that was as close as the Bison would get as the
Behrend Lions made their free throws down the stretch and got a key
steal from Newman to capture the win and advance in the ECAC
tournament.
Kaiser finished with 20 points including four makes from
long-range. Chris Saltzman (Jefferson Hills/Central Catholic)
scored 11 points, and Seker joined Newman in controlling the glass
by grabbing ten rebounds himself.
Bethany had four players in double figures led by Beckwith, who
finished with 17 points and nine boards. Joe Testa went for
16 points and 12 rebounds, while Dakota Matz added 16 and Ryan
McFadden scored ten.
Behrend, the fourth seed in the ECAC South Tournament, will now
travel to #1 seed Cabrini to play in the semifinals on Saturday,
March 7. Behrend and Cabrini will battle at 3:00 p.m. with
the other semifinal (#2 Catholic vs. #6 W & J) set to begin at
1:00 p.m.
