Just about midway through the second half it was showtime for
Pitt-Bradford and curtains for Penn State Altoona.
The Panthers used a 14-0 run to break a 36-all tie to advance to
the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference men’s basketball
semifinals with a 61-49 victory over Penn State Altoona at the
Sport & Fitness Center on Tuesday.
Third-seeded Pitt-Bradford (14-12) will now face No. 2 Penn
State Behrend (18-6) at Lake Erie College at 8 p.m. on Friday. The
top-seeded Storm (23-2) meets No. 4 Hilbert (14-12) in the first
game.
“At this point of the season you just want to win and advance,”
said Andy Moore, Pitt-Bradford head coach. “We get another shot at
Behrend on Friday night. It’s not going to be easy because they are
a good team, but at this point of the season anything can
happen.”
There were seven lead changes and six ties over the first 27
minutes when the Pitt-Bradford defense stiffened and held the
visiting Lions scoreless for over eight minutes.
“We clamped down on defense and attacked them (Lions) on
offense,” Moore recalled. “We were real tight in the first half,
and our ball movement and shot selection wasn’t very good.”
The Panthers led 15-11 with 7:53 left in the opening stanza when
the sixth-seeded Lions (10-16) went on a 10-0 spurt for a 21-15
lead with 5:47 showing.
Altoona enjoyed another six-point margin with 2:16 left, but
Pitt-Bradford ended the half with six straight points for a 25-25
deadlock at the intermission.
It was also knotted at 36 with 13:07 left when eight points by
Dan Thomas propelled the Panthers to a 50-36 bulge with 5:02
remaining.
“They had a bigger guy on him (Thomas) in the first half,” Moore
noted. “I told him at the half he is our leading scorer and he
makes us go. He just had to pick his spots and attack when he
could.”
Thomas finished with a game-high 20 points, while Sean DePue
added 12 points, and Mark Austin had 10 points and 14 rebounds.
“Austin led the conference in rebounding (7.4) and did another
nice job tonight,” Moore stated. “Sean DePue has really been
playing well the last two weeks.”
Colin Geiger had 17 points for Altoona, although 15 of those
came in the first half.
“I told Jon Hannon to play him (Geiger) tighter in the second
half and push him out of his comfort zone,” Moore declared.
