ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona men's basketball overcame a 15-point, second-half deficit on Saturday afternoon, surging for a 69-67 victory over The College of Wooster in Adler Arena.

After an evenly played first half, Wooster (3-4) opened the second half on a 24-11 scoring run across the first eight minutes to build a 57-42 advantage. But Penn State Altoona (5-4) countered by outscoring the Scots 27-10 the rest of the way, seizing a 69-67 lead on a Rasheed Daniels (Richmond, VA/Monacan) three-pointer with six seconds to go.

Penn State Altoona's victory over Wooster is one of the most significant wins by the program in recent history, as the Scots entered the season with the third-highest winning percentage of any NCAA men's basketball team in any division since 2000.

"I'm at a loss for words for how well the team played today and competed for 40 minutes," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "At halftime, we talked about playing really well for the first 20 minutes and making sure we finished the game that way. When you play hard, good things usually happen for you on offense and defense."

Braelen Cage (Lorton, VA/Hayfield Secondary) scored a game-high 20 points for Penn State Altoona while dishing out a team-high four assists. Nehemiah Frye (King George, VA/King George) had 12 points and a team-best eight rebounds, and Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) added 10 points and three helpers.

Daniels came off the bench to provide 14 points, including the game-winning shot for Penn State Altoona. Eli Sterling (Greencastle, PA/Greencastle-Antrim) chipped in six points off the bench with a pair of steals.

"We got really big sparks from certain people out of the blue. Eli gave us a huge boost of energy, especially on defense and scoring in transition. I thought Braelen really showed he could be more than just a shooter," said McGreal. "It was also nice to finally have Rasheed back and healthy, as he showed he can put the ball in the basket."

Wooster was led in scoring by Quincy Jones, who finished with 15 points. Jaiden Cox-Holloway and Isaac Roeder added 13 points apiece for the Scots, with Cox-Holloway also grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds.

Penn State Altoona and Wooster played evenly through the first stages of the opening half, as the Lions worked their way to a 12-11 lead 10 minutes into the period. After that, Baskerville's steal and fastbreak dunk, two Cage foul shots, and a Frye jumper gave the Lions an 18-13 advantage. Claar connected from three-point range at 6:27 to give Penn State Altoona its biggest lead of the half, 21-14.

Wooster clawed back to tie the score at 25-25 on a Cox-Holloway trey at the 2:32 mark, and two baskets from Jones and a layup by Roeder got the Scots to a narrow 33-31 halftime lead.

Wooster appeared to begin taking control of the game early in the second half, when the visitors scored 24 of the first 35 points. Roeder's layup at 13:49 gave the Scots a double-digit lead, 48-38, and another three-pointer from Cox-Holloway made it 57-42 at 12:12.

But Penn State Altoona chipped away at its deficit over the next several minutes. Daniels' three-pointer at Sterling's layup got the Lions back to within 10 points, 57-47, before two Frye layups and a Cage three-pointer cut the Wooster lead to 58-54 by the 9:11 mark. Several minutes later, Sterling's layup kept the Lions within four points, and an Elliot Johansson (Stockholm, Sweden/Tibble Gymnasium) basket at 3:55 made it a two-point game, 61-59.

After a Claar foul shot at 2:07 kept the difference at two, Frye's layup at the 1:50 mark knotted the score at 65-65. Wooster jumped back in front with an EJ Kapihe layup, before Daniels hit a free throw with just over a minute left to cut the Scots' lead to one, 67-66.

Penn State Altoona held Wooster scoreless on the subsequent possession, setting up an opportunity for the Lions to claim the lead. Following a double timeout, Daniels drilled a step-back three-pointer to put Penn State Altoona up, 69-67, with six seconds on the clock.

The Lions' defense made one more stand to ice the win, holding Wooster scoreless on a last-second layup attempt to maintain the two-point advantage at the buzzer.

Penn State Altoona won the turnover battle by nine, committing just eight giveaways compared to Wooster's 17. The Lions also led 18-8 in fastbreak points and 23-12 in bench points.

"Our overall team effort on defense was incredible. We were outsized at literally every position, but we stuck in there and played hard-nosed, man-to-man defense and mixed it up on them a lot, which confused them," said McGreal. "I'm just so proud of this team for this bounce back win after Wednesday, and like I told them in the locker room after the game, the best thing about tonight is that we get to do it again next weekend against Behrend."

Next up, Penn State Altoona men's basketball hosts Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Penn State Behrend next Saturday, December 13 at 4 p.m.