page 10- The Belueiul College Beacon - Februarx 18, 1999
LIONS CLINCH TITLE
Behrend men and women clinch regular season AMCC titles
ions punt:
by Malt Buscr
staff writer
The Penn State Behrend men
secured home court advantage for
the upcoming Allegheny Mountain
Collegiate Conference (AMCC)
playoffs with exciting w ms over the
two teams tied lor second place in
the conference.
In this past week's action, the
Lions avenged their only conference
loss of the season by beating Pitl-
Bradford 71-63 in E-Tie Hall on
Wednesday, February 10. They
followed that win up with a 66-64
victory over visiting Pitt-
Greensburg this past Saturday,
February 13.
The wins improved the Lions'
conference record to 8-1. while
dropping both UPB and UPG to 5-
3. The AMCC playoffs will come
to Erie Hall on Saturday and
Sunday, February 27-28.
"We’re undefeated at home (11-0),
0), and we plan on keeping that
streak going,” senior guard Jason
Paloskey said.
The men also played a non
conference game this past Monday
at Waynesburg (15-8), and were
defeated 82-73. Their overall record
going into last night’s action against
Allegheny College was 18-4. The
Behrend squad remains ranked
second in the most recent NCAA
Division 111 East Regional Poll.
“We worked hard at practice and
we’ve got our confidence back up,”
itt-Bradford down low. The Behrend men pi
Paloskey said before last night's game.
"Allegheny is a tough squad, ranked
regionally, but we're definitely looking
to rebound from that loss at
Waynesburg.”
Details of the game \ersus Allegheny
will be in the next Beacon.
Behrend’s 71-63 win against Pitt-
“We’re undefeated
at home, and we
plan on keeping
that streak going.”
Bradford was a hard-fought game.
Behrend led for all but 2:30 of the game,
but the lead was never more than seven
points until the final minute.
The teams played an evenly matched
first half. Behrend’s largest lead of the
half was 21-15 at 10:00, but PBU ran
off a 9-2 run and led 24-23 with 6:20
remaining. Behrend and PBU traded
baskets until forward Andy Lawrence
hit a three-pointer at :06 to give Behrend
a 38-34 lead at the break.
The second half played much like the
first. Center Nate Willson’s basket
made it 51-44 in Behrend’s favor with
Guard Brock Bovaird led four Lions
in double figures with twenty points,
and also led the team with eight
rebounds, had three assists and no
turnovers. Center Chris Hughes scor ed
sixteen and grabbed five boards, and
Paloskey and Lawrence each scored
thirteen. Lawrence also led the team
with four assists and two steals, and
forward Brian Emiek grabbed seven
Jason Paloskey rebounds.
senior guard
AMCC Tournament
February 27 and 28
victory over the conference rival this past we^
photo by Jason Blake
10:55 remaining. PBU then went on a
11-3 run that included a pair of tlnve
poinlers to go up 55-54 at the 5:30
mark.
Down the stretch run, the Lions took
control. They outseored Pitl-Bradford
15-2 over the next 3:50 and had the
game in hand at 69-57 with :40 to play.
PBU hit two three-pointers in the final
moments to make the score appear
respectable.
Saturday’s 66-64 win over visiting
Pitt-Greensburg clinched home court
advantage for the Lions. A big game
from Paloskey helped lead the Lions
to the victory. He scored 23, including
sixteen in the second half, on 9-13
(69%) shooting. Hughes also turned
in an excellent game, scoring sixteen
and grabbing nine boards. Bovaird
scored fifteen, made 4-5 three-pointers,
had six assists, and again committed no
turnovers. Willson also chipped in with
five rebounds.
The entire game was a nail-biter. The
score was tied 34-34 at the half after
forward John Park hit a three as the first
half drew to a close. Hughes and
Bovaird led the Lions with ten points
each in the first half.
Erie Hall
Sports
After even pinv earl} in the second
half. Behrend took the lead for good
with sixteen minutes to play. The
lead, however, was a tenuous one.
It grew to as many as seven, but
PGU closed the lead to one point on
four separate occasions. The Lions
again played big during the stretch
run, held KiU at bay, and gave the
Lnc Hall fuithlul one to remember.
The Behrend men suffered a
letdown when they list at
Waynesburg 82-73 this past
Monday. Following a pair of
physically and emotionally draining
conference wins with their third
game in live days worked against the
Lions.
The fact that Waynesburg shot
7691 (16-21) in the second half and
6291 (32-52) overall may have
contributed as well. Waynesburg
also outrebounded the Lions 42-26.
The Lions couldn't make up for a
poor first half in which they shot
only 2991 (9-31) from the floor.
They found themselves down 35-26
at the half. Behrend finished the
game at 39% (28-74), as both teams
scored 47 points in the second half.
Paloskey led the team with
nineteen points and five assists.
Bovaird scored eleven, and Willson
scored ten and grabbed eight boards.
The Lions play one game before
the start of the AMCC playoffs when
they travel to Laßoche College for
their final regular season and
conference game. Laßoche is
currently 4-4 in the conference and
9-12 overall.
Times to be announced
bench
by Jason Snyder
sports editor
The Penn State Behrend Lady Li
ons didn’t disappoint in their quest
to earn the right to host the Allegh
eny Mountain Collegiate Conference
Tournament to be held on February
27 and 28. In their final two confer
ence games, the Behrend women de
feated two of the AMCC’s top teams
in Pitt-Bradford and Pitt-Greensburg.
The Lions played their last regular
season home game last night vs. Al
legheny College.
In the Behrend women’s first game
of their three-game home stand, they
welcomed the 5-2 Pitt-Bradford Pan
thers tu Erie Hall. The Lions jumped
on their opponent early behind Jen
O’Lare who scored Behrend’s first
eight points. Tiffany Buck’s three
point show sparked the Lions to a3l -
27 haltime lead. O’Lare finished the
first half with 15 points as Buck
added 12 points with four three
pointers. Behrend shot 12-26 (46%)
from the field, while holding Pitt-
Bradford to 9-28 (32%) from the field
and 1 -5 from three-point land.
The Lady Lions continued their
shooting advantage throughout the
second half shooting 50% as opposed
to the Panther’s 39%. Pitt-Bradford,
however, was able to take advantage
of 20 Behrend turnovers to outscore
the Lions 31-30 in the second half.
Erin Phillips made a strong contri
bution in the second half, scoring 14
points on the game on 6-10 shoot
ing. Buck continued her pin-point
shooting after the intermission, fin
ishing with 20 points on 7-11 shoot
ing from the field and 6-10 from be
hind the arc. O’Lare added four to
her 15 to finish with 19 as Carrie
Nestor scored six points and added
five assists, four and two
steals.
The Lady Lions clinched the win
with two free throws by Nestor in the
closing seconds to pull out the 61-58
win.
The Behrend women then wel
comed Pitt-Greensburg to Erie Hall
with hopes of clinching the AMCC
regular season title and earning the
right to host the AMCC Tournament.
Pitt-Greensburg entered the game
with a 2-6 record in the AMCC, but
photo by Jason Blake
brought one of the conference's top
performers in Amy Schmuck.
Shmuck averaged over 17 points per
game and eight rebounds per game
on the year.
Pitt-Greensburg hung close early
in the contest, forcing 17 Behrend
turnovers. Schmuck scored ten
points in the first half to rival
Behrend’s Phillips who scored nine
for the Lions. Nestor, scoring six
points and grabbing four rebounds,
sparked the Lions with her agressive
play. Behrend held a slight advan
tage in a half of poor shooting by both
teams, shooting 38% from the field
as opposed to Pitt-Greensburg’s 33%).
The Lady Lions entered the locker
room with a quiet 27-22 lead.
The. second half featured a differ
ent attitude for the Behrend women
as they quickly pulled away. Lisa
Sanders began the second half hitting
two three-pointers on her way to scor
ing ten points.
Down the stretch, both teams took
advantage of their inside strength as
Schmuck battled l'oui trouble to fin
ish with 22 points to keep the score
respectable. Behrend pulled away,
going down low to Erin Phillips who
played big in the second half. For
the game, Phillips scored a career
high 32 points on 8-11 from the field
and 16-20 from the free throw line.
She pulled down a game high 12 re
bounds including five on the offen
sive glass. She added an assist and a
block for the career game.
Nestor, again had an all-around
game with seven points, six re
bounds, six assists, and two steals.
Jacqueline Jackson provided inside
strength off the bench with seven
points and eight rebounds.
The Lions outscorcd the Lady
Bobcats, 43-32 in the second half to
clinch the 70-54 win and the AMCC
regular season title.
The Lady Lions were 15-7 overall
entering last night’s game against Al
legheny College. Details from the
contest will be in next week’s Bea-
Behrend will conclude their regu
lar season with a conference game
against Laßoche College (4-15) on
February 20 at 6:00 p.m. The AMCC
tournament will begin on February
27 and 28 in Erie Hall.