Alfred Gets Tripped up by #1 Penn St. Behrend in First Round of ECAC Action
ERIE, PA – The Alfred University men's basketball team fell to host Penn. State Behrend 78-57 at the Junker Center Wednesday evening.
The Saxons (18-9, 11-5 Empire 8) were led by senior guard
Nick Schmidt (Olean, NY/Olean) and junior guard
Dom LeMorta (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glennville) with 11 points apiece. Senior forward
Dalton Cousin (Sherrill, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill)) and junior guard
Scotty Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glennville) chipped in 10 points apiece. Junior forward
Sage Brown (Cortland, NY/Cortland) led the way on defense, grabbing 10 rebounds.
Alfred got off to a hot start as Stopera and Schmidt both scored three-pointer on the opening two possessions. Alfred was able to get out to a 11-7 lead as Brown knocked down a pair of free-throws just over three minutes into the game. With the Saxons trailing the Lions, First-year forward
Jeremiah Zitz (Irondequoit, NY/Irondequoit) knocked down one from behind the arc with 10:57 to go before halftime.
Justin Gorny answered with a three of his own.
Penn State Behrend took a 41-37 lead into halftime.
The Lions were led by
Dan Walker with 17 points while
Mike Fischer and Gorny each had 16 points, respectively.
Alfred held the advantage in second chance points (10-3) while Penn St. Behrend held the edge in points in the paint (34-24).
The Saxons now fall to 2-7 in ECAC Tournament play.