MEADVILLE, Pa. -- The Allegheny College men's basketball team made things interesting in the final moments but came up just short in Wednesday's Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) matchup against Grove City College by a 71-68 score.

Despite a 33-26 halftime deficit, the Gators (5-10, 3-7 PAC) outscored the Wolverines (8-6, 5-5 PAC) in the second half. The visitors led by as many as 15 points, but Allegheny slowly chipped away and had a chance to force overtime on the final possession of regulation.

Down 55-40, the Gators outscored the Wolverines 28-16 over the last 10 minutes of the second half. The rally began with a 3-pointer from Andre Wilder (Beaver Falls, Pa./Lincoln Park) and a steal-and-score from Isaiah Portis (Medina, Ohio/Norwayne) during Grove City's following possession. Portis and Luke Barker (New Castle, Pa./Struthers (Ohio)) each added 3-point buckets to close the gap, which was reduced to 71-62 with just under a minute to go.

Inside the final 30 seconds, Preston Turk (New Castle, Pa./Neshannock) collected an errant pass at midcourt and went the distance. The senior point guard deposited the fastbreak layup with his left hand while being fouled by Chase Yarberough. He then converted the freebie to complete the and-one.

With fouls to give, the Gator defense committed a few to preserve the clock as the Wolverines attempted to inbound the ball. After a pair of fouls, a double team by Wilder and Barker led to a jump ball in front of the Allegheny bench and gave possession back to the Gators. Down 71-65, Barker added another trey from the left side of the arc, making it a one-possession game with 17 seconds left.

Two more fouls put Grove City's Kyle Randle on the line, but he missed the first half of his one-and-one. The Gators called another timeout with nine seconds to go, setting up a play for Turk atop the arc. His potential game-tying 3-point shot was well-contested but off the mark. 

The ball was ruled out of bounds with 0.5 seconds on the clock. However, the Wolverines made yet another mistake on the entry pass, and Portis grabbed the loose ball. With no time to waste, he slung the ball from nearly half-court, but the last-second Hail Mary was short of the rim.

Inside the Box Score

• Allegheny was 38.8% (26-of-67) from the field and 34.5% (10-of-29) from deep.
• Grove City, on the other hand, finished 54.4% (31-of-57) overall and 45.5% (5-of-11) from beyond the arc.
• The Gators had a significant advantage in points off turnovers (25-to-6) and steals (11-to-2).
• The Wolverines outrebounded the Gators, 42-to-27.
• Four Gators finished with double-digit points, led by Barker with a game-high 20 points.
• Wilder added 13 points, while Ryan Lang (Sarver, Pa./Knoch) amassed 12 points with six rebounds and a team-leading five assists.
• Portis added 10 points off the bench and paced all Gators in rebounds (7) and steals (3).
• Turk scored nine points, two assists, two steals, and one board.
• Despite fouling out, Yarberough was Grove City's top scorer with 14 points.

News and Notes

• Wednesday's loss was only the second of the season at home for the Gators.
• Since rejoining the PAC, Allegheny and Grove City have split their four meetings, 2-2.
• The Gators tied a season-high with 11 steals against the Wolverines while committing a season-low five turnovers.
• Allegheny also produced double-digit 3-pointers for the sixth time in 2023-24.
• Barker scored 20-plus points in a game for the fourth time this season.
• Portis recorded season-highs in points (10) and rebounds (7), and tied his previous season-bests in assists (3) and steals (3).

Up Next
The Gators are home on Saturday, January 13, when they welcome Washington and Jefferson College to the David V. Wise Center for a 4:00 p.m. PAC contest.