RADNOR, Pa. - Making its first Eastern College Athletic Conference South Region Tournament appearance in program history, the No. 8 seed Penn State Altoona men's basketball team hung tough with top-seeded Cabrini College Wednesday evening but eventually fell to the host Cavaliers 86-73 in the tournament's opening round.

Cabrini led for all but 3:30 and held a 38-26 lead at intermission behind 42.9% shooting (15-of-35) in the opening half.  Altoona, which shot 58.1% from the floor (18-for-31) in the second half, and the Cavaliers both finished the night with 28 baskets, but the hosts enjoyed a 21-11 edge at the free throw line and made three more 3-pointers.

The Lions scored 19 points off 13 Cabrini turnovers and got 30 points from their reserves compared to just eight points from the hosts' substitutes.  However, Cabrini got plenty of scoring punch from the combination of Glenn Washington and Kevin Misvicius and had four players reach double figures.

Washington netted a game-high 28 points on 8-of-13 shooting and drained six 3-pointers, while Misvicius scored 21 and also made eight field goals.  Teammates Charles Bush and Ryan Oxley added 13 and 10 points, respectively, as Cabrini improved to 21-7 overall and 16-1 at home.

Penn State Altoona (14-13) got 14 points from senior Colin Geiger (Pottstown, PA/Pottsgrove) and 12 from brother Curtis Geiger (Pottstown, PA/Pottsgrove), who played their last games in Lion uniforms.  Kirk Peters (Harrisburg, PA/Susquehanna Township) added 13 and Travis White (Philadelphia, PA/Simon Gratz) chipped in 12 for the visitors, which shot 6-of-17 from beyond the arc.

After Lion guard Eric Gaetano (Montoursville, PA/Loyalsock Township) opened the scoring with a trey, Cabrini scored 11 straight points and led 17-7 with 12:33 left in the opening stanza.  Altoona got to within four at the 7:55 mark, but another Cavalier spurt catapulted the lead to its largest of the period at 36-21 with under four minutes on the clock.

The Lions widdled the deficit down to just two midway through the second half on a Herschell Warren (Philadelphia, PA/Simon Gratz) lay up.  But a decisive 11-0 run by the hosts lasting nearly three minutes inflated the lead to double figures and Penn State Altoona would get no closer than seven the rest of the way.

Cabrini advances to the ECAC South Region semifinals against the winner of Penn State Behrend and Bethany.