Penn St. Behrend earns upset victory, takes home AMCC title - Feb 27, 2019

The second-seeded Penn St. Behrend men's basketball team claimed their sixth AMCC conference title, and first since 2014, as they defeated #1 La Roche College 67-65 on Sunday evening. Tipping off at 6pm, the AMCC men's basketball title game was delayed by three hours due to a weather-related power outage.
Despite La Roche scoring the first bucket of the game on a Tyler Frederick (6'4''-F) layup, it was the Behrend Lions who took over and controlled the scoreboard for the remainder of the half. Three straight baskets by Behrend put them up 6-2 after two and half minutes of play until a Ray Quan Phifer (6'1''-G) jump shot knotted the game at eight. The Lions slowly started to pull away, but the Redhawk defense kept their lead with five until a Dan Wanker (6'6''-F) jump shot at the 4:47 mark gave Behrend a seven point lead, their largest lead of the game to that point. A Frederick layup brought La Roche back within four until Behrend's Jacob Zeis (6'1''-G) nailed a three pointer with 0:16 on the clock to give the Lions the 29-22 halftime lead.
The Lion lead stayed much the same throughout the first seven minutes of the second half until Justin Gorny (6'6''-F) drained a three from the top of the key as the shot clock expired at the 12:54 mark and Malike Brinson (5'10''-PG) matched him with another three just thirty second later to put Behrend up 45-33.
A Mike Fischer (6'1''-G) free throw with 9:38 on the clock gave the Lions a 14 point advantage and their largest lead of the night. The Redhawks fought back as three different players scored consecutive layups to bring La Roche within 8 (51-43) and brought the crowd to their feet. Two Behrend free throws put them back up 10 before the Redhawks went on a 7-0 run over the next 35 seconds to close within three (53-50).
The Lions kept the score in their favor until Phifer drained a three with 3:33 to play to knot the game at 59. A Fischer layup put the Lions up two, but La Roche responded with six straight points by Frederick and Phifer to go up 65-61 with one minute to play. Gorny took the game into his own hands by scoring the game's final six points on a layup and four free throws to set the final at 67-65.
Gorny and Fischer led the Lions with 14 points and six rebounds a piece. Phifer led all scorers with 21 points, while Frederick added 17 points and five boards.

AMCC Tournament Final: PS-Behrend - La Roche 67-65
AMCC Tournament Semifinals:
La Roche - Mount Aloysius 70-62
PS-Behrend - Medaille 82-52

Courtesy of PS-Behrend