Men's Basketball Keep Rolling with Win Over Penn State Altoona

The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team kept its win streak alive with a 74-61 win over rival Penn State Altoona on Saturday, January 16 in front of 334 fans at the Junker Center.  Behrend (10-3, 7-2) earned its fifth straight victory and remains unbeaten at home this season, winning all six contests in the Junker Center. 

Both teams knew of the importance of this matchup and the intensity was there from the start.  The first half saw Behrend ahead 10-8 in the early going before scoring eight straight points to grab its largest lead of the first half at 18-8 with just over 12 minutes remaining.  The Behrend Lions held a 25-17 advantage with 5:31 to play, but Altoona would respond with a 9-2 run to cut the Behrend lead to 27-26 with 2:31 to play in the opening period.  Altoona then took its first lead of the game and held a 30-27 advantage with 1:15 remaining before Behrend's Chris Saltzman (Pittsburgh/Central Catholic) scored back-to-back buckets to give his squad a 31-30 lead at the break.  Adam Kaiser (Erie/Cathedral Prep) made 5-of-7 from the floor including two from long-range to tally 12 points in the first half, with Saltzman contributing seven points.

The game remained close in the second half as Behrend led 49-46 with just under ten minutes to play.  Behrend freshman Russ Conley (Transfer/Reynolds) scored and Nick Collela (Newcastle/Newcastle) followed with a basket of his own.  Conley then finished a layup for a quick 6-0 burst to put the home squad ahead 55-46 with eight and a half minutes to play.  Behrend increased its lead to 11 points with 3:17 to play and Kaiser's fifth 3-point basket of the game pushed Behrend's lead to 70-56 with 2:07 remaining.  Behrend closed it out and earned its seventh league win with a 13-point victory.

Kaiser finished with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor, while Conley added 12 points and eight rebounds and Saltzman tallied 11 points and six rebounds.  Penn State Altoona (7-8, 5-5) was led by Kirk Peters who poured in 27 points on 12-of-16 shooting from the floor.

Up next for the Behrend Lions will be another home battle against Franciscan on Monday, January 18 at 8:00 p.m. before they hit the road for the next two matchups.  The blue and white will be at Mount Aloysius on Saturday, January 23 and then again on Wednesday, January 27 when they take on D'Youville.