HAMBURG, N.Y. – Penn State Altoona men's basketball suffered its third conference loss of the season on Wednesday afternoon, when the Lions were overpowered, 90-53, by Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Hilbert College in the Hafner Recreation Center.

Despite a sluggish first half on offense, Penn State Altoona (6-6, 0-3 AMCC) stayed within striking distance by halftime and trailed by just seven points. But Hilbert (11-2, 4-0 AMCC) put its foot on the gas pedal in the second half, when it outscored the Lions 58-28 to defeat Penn State Altoona by 37.

"That has to be the worst AMCC game I have coached in and my team has performed in during my tenure here," said Penn State Altoona head coach David McGreal. "We need to get back to playing 'we' basketball and not 'me' basketball, or the promise of some early-season momentum will be all for naught and we will struggle to reach our goals."

Kaden Claar (Portage, PA/Portage) led Penn State Altoona with eight points and four steals. Nehemiah Frye (King George, VA/King George) scored seven points, and Rasheed Daniels (Richmond, VA/Monacan) added seven points off the bench. Michael Baskerville (Damascus, MD/Damascus) contributed five points and two blocks, and Zion Bruce (Kihei, HI/Maryknoll) grabbed a team-high four rebounds.

Hilbert's Jaden Mitchell topped all scorers with 20 points, while three Hawks players posted double-doubles. Larry Morse had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Ronnie Lewis scored 12 to go along with 12 boards, and Ne'Sean Fowlks had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Penn State Altoona struggled offensively through much of the first half, scoring just 10 points through the first 14 minutes of play. But the Lions found their footing late in the period, putting 15 points on the board in the final minutes to get back to within seven, 32-25, by halftime.

Penn State Altoona charged out to a 7-0 lead, as five points from Frye and a layup by Baskerville helped the Lions to a solid advantage two minutes into the game.

Hilbert responded with a 10-0 run to jump ahead, with Sonny Williams' layup at 11:33 giving the home team a three-point lead. A jumper from Morse at 6:59 put the Hawks up by eight, 18-10, and another Morse jump shot at the 4:13 mark helped extend Hilbert's lead to 13 points, 25-12.

Later, three-pointers from Daniels and Claar helped Penn State Altoona cut into Hilbert's lead, trimming it to 30-20 with 1:32 left in the half. Daniels' layup with 42 seconds remaining made it a five-point game, 30-25. Hilbert added two points to its total on a dunk from Mitchell with 10 seconds to go, and Penn State Altoona went into the locker room trailing 32-25.

Hilbert came out hot to start the second half, outscoring the Lions 13-1 over the first 3:09 of the period, with a dunk by Fowlks giving the Hawks a 45-26 advantage. The home team continued to expand its lead over the next several minutes and went up by 26 points, 59-33, on a three-pointer from Iyan Bremer at 12:20.

Hilbert upped its lead to 30 points, 70-40, on a Lewis three-pointer at 8:35, and a pair of Lewis free throws at 4:49 put the Hawks up by 40 points, 84-44. Williams' basket at the 4:04 mark gave the home squad its largest lead of the afternoon, 86-44, and the Lions went on to take a 37-point loss.

Penn State Altoona men's basketball returns home for its next game this Saturday, January 10, when the Lions will look to get back on track in a 4 p.m. matchup with AMCC opponent Alfred State College.