PITTSBURGH, PA – The Medaille College Men's Basketball team matched up with Penn St.-Behrend today in the AMCC Championship Semifinals.
Medaille (17-9; 13-5 AMCC) entered the game as the #3 seed after defeating #6 Mount Aloysius in Wednesday night's First Round matchup by a convincing (78-58) margin.
#2 Penn St.-Behrend (19-6; 14-4 AMCC) entered the game after receiving a first round bye, but they had dropped three of their previous four games.
Mike Hollenbeck had (26) points in the loss
The Lions completed the season sweep on Medaille, winning two very competitive games. The first win coming on a last second shot (77-76) at the Sullivan Center (77-76) and the second game at home (63-58).
The Mavericks controlled the game in the early parts of the first half, going up by seven (16-9) on a three-pointer by senior Jalen Smith (Batavia, NY, Batavia) at the (12:38) mark.
The lions closed the gap going on a nice little run over the next four minutes to cut the lead to one point (18-17) on a Justin Gorny three-pointer at the half way point of the first half.
Medaille finished the first half strong though, entering the intermission with a seven point (37-30) cushion.
The second half saw the Lions bear down and claw their way back into the game though. The Lions opened up the half on a (20-13) run, knotting the game back up at (50-50) at the (12:39) mark of the second half.
Behrend briefly took the lead on their next few possessions, but Medaille answered right back and built the lead back to six points (69-63) on a Cedric Mondjii (Brooklyn, NY, Woodlawn (MD)) layup with (5:00) remaining in the second half.
A pair of three-pointers by Behrend's Andy Niland knotted the game back up though (69-69) and then a third three-pointer by Niland put the Lions back in front with (3:30) remaining in the game.
That three-pointer by Niland put the Lions ahead for good. Medaille was able to cut the lead to one point (77-76) on a three-pointer by Mike Hollenbeck with (:33) left and got the ball back down three points with one final possession, but Medaille was unable to tie the game up as they missed on their three-point attempt to tie on their final possession.
The win, advances Penn St.-Behrend to the finals where they will matchup up with the host #1 Seed La Roche College.
The Mavericks were led by Mike Hollenbeck (Ontario, NY, Wayne Central) who finished with (26) points, going (12-17) form the field. Fellow senior Justice Fagan (Batavia, NY, Batavia) finished with (17) points and Jalen Smith finished with (10) points.
Behrend's Justin Gorny led all scorers with (28) points, as he was (8-14) from the field and a perfect (7-7) from the charity stripe. Andy Niland had (17) points including nine consecutive points to retain the lead in the late minutes of the second half. Dan Wanker finished with (13) points.
The Mavericks fall to (17-10) overall and will wait to see if they are invited to a post-season tournament. They are long shots to get an NCAA bid, but may get an invitation to the ECAC Tournament.