Behrend Basketball Defeats Misericordia, Advances to Second Round of ECAC Tournament

The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team competed in the first round of the ECAC South Region Tournament on Wednesday, March 3 at the Junker Center.  The Behrend Lions defeated visiting Misericordia University 79-73 in a thrilling overtime contest.

The Misericordia Cougars scored the first four points of the game, but a 21-2 run by the Behrend Lions put the home squad up 21-6 with 9:07 to play in the first half.  The visitors responded with a 14-6 run to pull within seven points, trailing 27-20 with 3:03 left in the first half.  Behrend saw eight players score in the opening period, with Chris Saltzman (Pittsburgh/Central Catholic) the high point man with seven, while Adam Potter (Pittsburgh/Mt. Lebanon) chipped in six.  Behrend made five threes (5-of-13) compared to Misericordia's one (1-for-9) in the first twenty minutes and headed to the locker room up 32-23 at the break.

Behrend maintained a solid lead for the first ten minutes of the second half, and led by ten (51-41) with 10:31 to play.  The Cougars cut it to eight with just under ten to play, and got it to five (51-46) with a layup and a free throw by Dom Del Prete.  Behrend pushed the lead back to eight on a few occasions, including as late as the 2:55 mark after a layup by Potter made it 63-55.  A Saltzman layup with 57 seconds to play gave Behrend a 67-60 lead and seemed to point toward a Behrend victory, but the Cougars had other plans.  After a Misercordia free throw Behrend would miss the front end of a one-and-one leading to a made three-point bucket by Del Prete with 11 seconds to play, pulling the Cougars within three at 67-64.  Another free throw miss with eight seconds to play by the blue and white gave Misericordia one last chance, and Del Prete nailed a fading three-point shot at the buzzer to stun the crowd and force overtime at 67-67.

In overtime Behrend hit six free throws and led 73-71 with 1:43 to play before getting back-to-back buckets by Nick Dvorsky (Pittsburgh/North Allegheny) for a 77-73 lead with 31 seconds left.  A missed three pointer by the visitors and a layup by Adam Palcic (Greensburg/Greensburg Central Catholic) clinched the win and sent Behrend to the ECAC Semifinals.  

With the win, the blue and white improve thier record to 19-8 while Misericordia ends their season at 16-12.  The Behrend Lions will next travel to the host and number one seed Catholic College for the second round of the ECAC South Tournament.  Behrend is set to play #2 seed Bethany on Saturday, March 6.