Clutch Foul Shooting Lifts Lions Past Tartans

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Justin Gorny (South Park, PA) scored 11 of his game-high 19 points in the second half to lead the Penn State Behrend men's basketball team to an 81-75 non-conference victory over Carnegie Mellon on Wednesday evening.

Four Lions (6-1) tallied double-digit point performances to help give the Tartans (3-4) its third consecutive loss on the season.

Junior guard Andy Niland (Fairview, PA/Fairview) notched 15 of his 17 points in the second half, including 7-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe while adding six assists and three rebounds. Mike Fischer (Wexford, PA/North Allegheny) put up a season-high 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting while freshman Kyle Reese (Allison Park, PA/Hampton) recorded a career-high 11 points on an 83.3 percent shooting performance.

All five Carnegie Mellon starters tallied double-digits. Seth Henry led the way with 13 points and six boards while Patrick Ehland and Colin McNeil each put up 12 points.

After trailing in the opening 18 seconds of the game, the Lions would go on an 11-0 run for the next five minutes that helped ensure that they would not concede another lead the remainder of the game. Behrend shot 57.7 percent from the field in the first, compared to Carnegie Mellon's 48.3 percent, and went into the locker room leading 38-32.

The two teams traded buckets for the entire second half. The Tartans came within six points with 3:48 remaining, but clutch foul shooting from Niland and Dan Wanker (Pittsburgh, PA/South Park) was enough to hold off the comeback effort. Niland coverted on seven foul shots and Wanker buried three to keep Carnegie Mellon out of striking distance.

Behrend ended the game shooting a season-best 56.9 percent from the floor.

The Lions are looking to push their winning streak to five when the travel to Mount Aloysius on Saturday for a conference matchup. Game time is set for 1 p.m.