GREENSBURG, Pa. - The Penn State Altoona men's basketball team played their first Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference game of the season Wednesday night, when they lost to Pitt-Greensburg 93-66 at Chambers Hall.  

Despite Penn State Altoona (4-4, 0-1 AMCC) taking an early lead, Pitt-Greensburg (7-0, 1-0 AMCC) fought back, ending the first half with a 45-34 lead. The Bobcats pulled away in the second half, putting up a 48-point half to win by 27 points.  

"Hats off to Greensburg. They shot the lights out, and it was some guys you don't expect to make them," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. 

Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) led the Lions in scoring, grabbing 20 points, including a 6-for-9 performance from three-point range. Claar would also have four rebounds and two steals. Nehemiah Frye (King George, VA/King George) scored 11 points to go along with a team-high eight rebounds and one steal. Mason Kargo (Portage, PA/Portage) led the Lions in assists with three.  

Pitt-Greensburg got 22 points from Trent Rozich, while Michael Bigley scored 15 points for the Bobcats.  

Penn State Altoona jumped out to an early eight-point lead at 15:10 via a Frye jump shot and four Claar three-pointers.  

Pitt-Greensburg responded by going on an 11-3 run to tie the game 17-17 at 12:49. 

For the next two-and-a-half minutes, the two teams traded baskets back and forth with the Bobcats holding a one-point advantage at 10:13. Ten seconds later, the Bobcats started a 10-2 run to take a nine-point lead, 34-25.  

After a series of baskets between the two teams, the Lions would close the gap to six points.  

Pitt-Greensburg closed out the half with a 6-1 run, leading the game by 11 points.  

The second half began with the Lions looking to close the gap and the Bobcats looking to extend their lead.  

Following jump shots from Frye, Kargo, and Michael Baskerville (Damascus, MD/Damascus) and free throws from Frye and Baskerville, the Lions closed the gap to only nine points. The Bobcats fired back, going on a 7-0 run at 16:35 to restore their lead to 16 points.  

The Lions would get baskets, but Pitt-Greensburg began to pull away, taking a 20-point lead off a Bigley jump shot at 8:49.  

"We did a great job on a couple guys, but their big guys just went right at us in the second half, and we did not respond," said McGreal.

Penn State Altoona continued to fight, as points from Eli Sterling (Greencastle, PA/Greencastle-Antrim) and Jonathan Barkley (Accokeek, MD/Gwynn Park) made it 85-60 at 3:20.  

At 2:46, Ryan Greggerson scored a layup for the Bobcats to give Pitt-Greensburg their biggest lead of the game, making the score 89-60.  

The final basket of the game would be a Rasheed Daniels (Richmond, VA/Monacan) three-point bucket.  

Penn State Altoona men's basketball schedule returns home to Adler Arena for their next two games, the first of which is a Saturday, December 6 matchup against Wooster. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.