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.

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.