Lions lose on last second shot to Medaille
2.16.08

(BUFFALO, NY:)  Medaille guard Keith Hack drained a jumper with one second remaining to send the Mavericks to a 54-52 come-from-behind win over Penn State Altoona Saturday at the Sullivan Center.  Medaille improved to 13-10 overall and 8-8 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.  The Lions dropped to 11-12 overall, 8-8 in the AMCC, and lost their second straight heartbreaker after falling 77-75 Wednesday at Frostburg State.

Hack, who finished with a team-high 21 points, made two free throws with 1:30 remaining to give the Mavs a 52-50 lead.  Lion guard Colin Geiger (Pottstown, PA/Pottsgrove), who also netted 21, tied the game at 52 on a jumper with 58 seconds left.  Medaille's Chris Moscato misfired on a trey with 27 ticks on the clock, but the ball caromed out of bounds off a Penn State Altoona player.  After a timeout, Bill Gersitz missed a last-second lay up that was put home by Hack just before the horn.  Altoona's Curtis Geiger (Pottstown, PA/Pottsgrove) got off a final heave that was no good.

The outcome was eerily similar to last season's meeting in Buffalo, a 57-55 Medaille victory, when Gersitz made a jumper with no time remaining to lift the Mavs to victory.

The Lions never trailed in the first half and were up 12 (42-30) with 13:34 left in the game.  Medaille immediately used a 9-0 run to slice the deficit to three and used another 9-0 spurt to take their first lead of the game (48-46) at the 4:21 mark.

Quintin Dziabo (Cresson, PA/Penn Cambria) chipped in nine for Altoona, which led 30-23 at intermission thanks to 47.8% shooting in the first half.  Colin Geiger was 8-18 from the floor, 3-6 from long range, and swiped three steals.

Medaille was a dismal 7-24 (29.2%) from the floor in the first stanza including 1-9 from 3-point range.  The Mavs were only 1-7 from distance in half number two but hit 10-18 buckets from inside the arc.

Jacob Reisdorf chipped in 13 points for Medaille, who had three fewer field goals (21-18) but made 11 more free throws (16-5) than the Lions.  The Mavs out-rebounded their counterparts 33-25 and scored 13 second-chance points on 12 offensive boards including the game winner.

Penn State Altoona will play its next to last game of the season this Wednesday, February 20, at Pitt-Greensburg.  Tip time is 8:00 PM.  The Bobcats and Lions played a thriller in Altoona on January 23 as UPG stole a 72-71 win thanks a Rhett Gordon buzzer beater.

CONTACT:        Penn State Altoona Sports Information
                           Steve Crider  --  SID
                           814-949-5173
                           sac310@psu.edu