ERIE, Pa. - The Allegheny men's basketball team defeated Penn State Behrend for the first time since 2006 with a 78-71 victory on Wednesday (Nov. 20).
With the victory, the Gators improve to 4-0, their best start since the 2007-08 season.
Allegheny began the game on an 18-9 run through the first six-and-a-half minutes of the game, highlighted by
Josh Ratesic (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) with two three-pointers,
Caden Hinckley (Boise, Idaho/Mount Lebanon (Pa.)) with a pair of layups, and triples from
Jordan Greynolds (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton) and
Keeno Holmes (Pittsburgh, Pa./Lincoln Park). The Lions battled back and took the lead, 25-24, with 5:06 remaining in the first half, but a prompt 14-2 run gave Allegheny a 36-27 lead.
The Gators would take a 38-35 lead into the intermission, after an 8-2 run for Penn State Behrend to close out the first period, before scoring the first nine points of the second half to extend their lead, 47-35. Allegheny also extended its lead to 12 with 6:57 remaining in the game, with the score at 69-57, the Gators largest lead of the half, as they would go on to win 78-71.
Hinckley led all scorers with a career-high 22 points, on 10-of-18 from the floor, and added seven rebounds.
Jordan Rawls (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) followed with 20, extending his streak of games in double digits to 19, to add to his five rebounds and five assists. Ratesic scored 12 points off the bench, all on four made triples, and Greynolds rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10.
Brendon Urso (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) and Rawls supplied the team-high assists for the Gators, each tallying five, while Hinckley dished out four to give the Gators a 21-14 lead in helpers.
Nijon Kirkman (Cleveland, Ohio/John Hay) commanded the backboards for the Gators with a team-high eight rebounds, while Hinckley and
Terrell Childs, Jr. (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) grabbed seven apiece.
As a team, the Gators shot 55.6 percent (10-of-18) from three-point range, while the Lions only hit on 33 percent of their shots from beyond the arc (8-of-24). Allegheny also shot 46.7 percent (28-of-60) as a team and sunk 12 of their 15 free throws.
Allegheny heads back to the court on Saturday (Nov. 23) for a road nonconference match at Chatham. The game is slated for 1:00 p.m.
