BEACON SPORTS Men’s hoops on five-game winning streak Bv Rvan Smosna contributing writer isn.SOO.SO psu.edu The Behrend men’s basketball team looks to eontinue their near-perfect leap year record going. The Lions have only lost one game since the start of the new year and are rolling over the competition. Last Saturday, the Behrend Lions trav eled to rival Penn State Altoona and took care of business. The men again put on a clinic on the defensive side of the ball only allowing Altoona to score 40 points. Behrend lead by seven points at the end of the first half with help from sophomore guard Adam Kaiser. But once again, in the second half, the Men turned up the intensity and dominated each side of the ball cruising to a 69-40 victory over Altoona. Junior guard Justin Kovac con tinued his impeccable play, scoring 15 points, and did not commit one turnover in the game. Kovac said “in practice everyone plays really hard and that makes our team better." The loss moved Altoona to No. 4 in the AMCC standings and left them in serious jeopardy of missing the AMCC tournament later this month. The men won a gritty game against conference partner Medaille in front of another energetic home crowd Wednesday. Feb. 13. The Lions came out fired up and with the help of excellent Lady Lions By Jessica Carlson sports editor jIc.SOI 8(« psu.edu On Wednesday, Feb. 13, the Penn State Behrend women’s basketball team fell to the Medaille Mavericks for the second time this season by a score of 59-44. The Lady Lions have an overall record of 11- 11 and an AMCC record of 9-6, putting them in a tie for No. 4 with Laßoche College. The Mavericks are sitting atop the AMCC with an overall record of 20-2 and a conference record of 14-1. Medaille shot for 53 percent in the first half, giv ing them an 11-point lead over the Lions. The biggest drawback for the Lions was not being able to control the ball on offense as Medaille's defense nabbed 22 turnovers and blocked seven of Behrends shot attempts. Despite the loss, senior guard Julia Andrus had a strong performance. In the past three games she has tallied up 57 points. Against the Mavericks she con tributed six points and four rebounds for the Lions in the first twenty minutes of the game. Andrus went on to finish the game with a total of nine points. Also contributing points for the women was senior, forward Anne Priester coming off the bench and adding five points to the score, as well as eight rebounds on the penetration by Justin Kovac. forwards Newman also stroked home four buckets Adam Potter and Dave Gahan scored cas- and finished seeond on the Lions with 14 ily. The Lions again played a defensive points. Onee again, Behrend senior center game and at the end of the first half the Kevin Buc/.ynski finished with the game score was 42 - 25 in favor of the In the second half, Medaille tried their best to get ahead of the Lions by chang ing up defenses and constantly rotating players in and out of the game. However, each time Medaille would get within single J un ‘ or ? uard Tom Newman fights for digits Behrend t * le anc * a w ' n * or mens team - had an answer. Junior guard/forward Tommy Newman did an excellent job of stopping the AMCC's third leading scor er James McNeil. McNeil averaged 17.2 points per game going into Wednesday night, but with stiffening defense from New'man he was held to 10 points, shoot ing and just 25 percent from the field. Newman said “we focused on stopping him because he is capable of scoring a lot of points. On the offensive side of the ball fall to Medaille College CONTRIBUTED PHOTO The Lady Lions huddle around head coach Roz Fornari during a game. defensive side of the ball. For the Mavericks, senior forward Amanda Baker was the player to excel on both sides of the ball. Her exceptional game on offense complimented her defensive feats. Baker was the leading scorer of the night going six for 13 with a total of 12 points, as well as blocking two Behrend shots and six rebounds. Other high scorers for Medaille were senior guard Marisa Clark and freshmen high in points. Medaille had no answer for Buczynski in each half: he shot 9-12 from the field and stroked the midrange jump shot all night. Medaille tried switching defenders and even changing their defense to a zone but to no avail - Buczynski finished with 24 points. “We wanted to come out and get the lead and keep it till the end." he said. They did just that as the Lions undefeated home record is still alive and their overall record sits them atop the AMCC. Along with being No. 1 in the AMCC, the men are also the No. 1 ranked Dill team for scoring defense. Prior to Medaille. Behrend held it’s last nine opponents to 60 points or less. The Lions will host La Roche on Saturday, Feb. 16 and Lake Erie on Wednesday. Feb. 20 before heading to Pitt Bradford Feb. 23 to finish out the reg ular season. Amanda Sahhar with nine points each, followed by senior guard Amanda Walling with 16 points. Medaille is currently No. 1 in the AMCC followed by No. 2 Lake Erie with a record of 12-3. Pitt-Greensburg holds the No. 3 spot at 11-4 in the Conference and both Behrend and Laßoche hold the No. 4 spot with a record of 9-6. Needless to say. Saturdays game will be critical for the Lady Lions as they bat tle against the Laßoche Redhawks for fourth place. Laßoche has an overall record of 14-8 and have lost their last two games in a row. Behrend will be looking to make it three. On Wednesday. Feb. 13 the Redhawks lost to Mt. Aloysius by a score of 74-62. Mt. Aloysius has had an end of the season surge with a four-game winning streak and currently are in No. 5 with a record of 7-8 in the conference and 12-9 overall. The first of their two-game losing streak came from the Lake Erie Storm on Saturday. Feb. 9 by a score of 61-58. Both the men and women have two home games remaining for the season. The women will tip-off against Laßoche College on Saturday. Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. followed by the men at 8 p.m. The last home game for the blue and white hoops will be on Wednesday, Feb. 20 against the Lake Erie Storm. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR ATHLETE OF THE WEEK NAME: SPORT: CLASS: DATE: On Saturday, Feb. 9, the women’s bas- ketball team traveled to Penn State Altoona, where they defeated the Altoona Lions 76-64. O’Connor made significant contributions for the Blue and White, posting an impressive dou ble-double for the day. Kayla was able to ddd 17 points md 12 rebounds to the Behrend Lions offense for the victory. The women moved to 11-10 overall with a 9-5 record in AMCC play. The Blue and White are currently tied with La Roche College for fourth place in the conference standings. Only four games remain in regular season play. The Behrend women’s basketball team lost against No. 11 ranked Medaille College on Wednesday, Feb. 13 by a score of 59-44. The women hit the court again when they take on La Roche College at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16. The Blue and White will close out the regular season with a home game against Lake fine College on Feb. 20 and a final away game at Pitt-Bradford on the 23. AMCC Tournament action will begin on Tuesday, Feb. 26. The Behrend Beacon I Friday, February 15, 2008 Kayla O’Connor Women’s Basketball Junior Feb. 11, 2008
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