Lions, Express Meet for Second Time In Program History

ERIE, Pa. – For the second time in program history, the Penn State Behrend men's basketball team welcomes Wells to the Junker Center on Monday, Feb. 5. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., following the women's game that begins at 5:00 p.m. This game was originally scheduled for January 13th, but was postponed due to inclement weather.

Coverage:

Live Stats | Video

Behrend News & Notes:

* Behrend earned a hard-fought victory over Pitt-Bradford Saturday in the Junker Center (77-59)
* Tommy DiRienzo (Pittsburgh, PA/Bethel Park) led Behrend with 21 points on 8-16 shooting from the field and 4-4 from the free-throw line. This marks DiRienzo's 19^th double-digit scoring game of the season and 11^th contest with 20 or more points
* Off the bench, Mason Blankenberg (Ontario, NY/Wayne) added 16 points and four rebounds, while Shawn Mason (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) chipped in nine points
* Senior RJ Marsh (State College, PA/Saint Joseph's Catholic Academy) filled up the stat sheet for the Lions, finishing with his second double-double of the year
* Marsh tallied 12 points, a game-high 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks
* As a team, Behrend scored 19 points off 12 Pitt-Bradford turnovers and outscored the Panthers in the paint (33-28) and off the bench (52-13)
* DiRienzo leads the AMCC with 20.4 points per game, while Marsh pulls down a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game to rank ninth in the conference
* Matthew McDonough (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) sits fifth in the conference in three-point percentage (42.4), while Blankenberg is currently fifth in field-goal percentage (52.6)
* The Lions are first in the conference in field-goal percentage (46.7), three-point percentage (35.7), and free-throw percentage (76.2)

Meet the Opposition:

* Wells holds an overall record of 4-16 and a conference record of 3-10, falling to Pitt-Greensburg on Saturday (69-57)
* Senior guard Terrance Clayton-Murphy leads the Express and is second in the AMCC with 19.1 points per game, while Ransel Rodriguez averages 13.0 points per game
* Billy McCrae grabs a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game, while Rodriguez dishes 5.3 assists per game
* In their inaugural season in the AMCC, the Express were selected to finish sixth in the 2023-24 Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll
* Clayton-Murphy and McCrae were named AMCC Preseason Players to Watch
* Head coach Joe Wojtylko is in his 16^th season at the helm of the men's basketball program

Series History:

* This is the second matchup in school history between these two programs
* Behrend was victorious in its first ever matchup with Wells by a score of 77-43 to begin the 2012-13 season