(ALTOONA, PA:) Penn State Altoona made 29-35 free throws
and shot 52.4% from the field as the Lions handled conference powerhouse Lake
Erie College 80-64 Saturday afternoon at the Adler Gym. Altoona improved
to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference while the
Storm dropped to 5-2 and 2-1 in the AMCC.
Leading 32-31 at intermission, Altoona opened the final period
on a 6-2 run capped off by a Kirk Peters (Harrisburg, PA/Susquehanna Township)
lay up and would not trail the rest of the way. The lead reached double
figures when Curtis Geiger (Pottstown, PA/Pottsgrove) nailed one of his three
triples at the 12:47 mark, and the visitors would get no closer than eight
points.
Lake Erie only got to the foul line 15 times and made just six
(40%) of those attempts. Altoona was a superb 20-22 from the stripe in the
second half and made seven three pointers in the game compared to just 2-16 from
downtown for the visitors.
The Storm full court pressure defense did force the Lions into
21 turnovers but more often than not resulted in one of the squad's 28 personal
fouls. The lead changed hands seven times in the first half with the
biggest Altoona advantage twice reaching six points (17-11, 19-13) midway
through the period.
Senior Quintin Dziabo (Cresson, PA/Penn Cambria) led the Lions
with 18 points on 6-10 shooting and pulled five rebounds. Colin Geiger
(Pottstown, PA/Pottsgrove) finished with 13 while twin brother Curtis and Peters
each scored 12. Freshman Eric Gaetano (Montoursville, PA/Loyalsock
Township) came off the bench to score seven points including a second half three
pointer that pushed the lead to 13.
Lake Erie received 15 points apiece from Darnell Campbell and
Derrick Thornton. Campbell also pulled 10 rebounds, and teammate Mark
Skopal chipped in 12 points. Entering Saturday's game, Lake Erie had lost
just four conference games in the last two seasons (32-4) and were off to a 2-0
start this year.
Altoona was outscored in the painted area 44-20 but got another
solid contribution from its bench, who totaled 29 points. The Lion defense
held the Storm to just 28-69 shooting (40%) and converted 20 LEC turnovers into
19 points.
The Lions will look to make it four in a row when they step out
of conference on Monday, December 10, for a 7:00 PM game at Bethany College
(WV). The Lions and Bison met twice last season with Bethany winning both
meetings.
CONTACT: Penn
State Altoona Sports Information
Steve Crider -- SID
814-949-5173
sac310@psu.edu
