BEHREND DEFEATS HOPE COLLEGE, ADVANCES TO SECOND ROUND OF NCAA TOURNAMENT

The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team wasn't quite ready for their season to end.

Shane Skelly hit the game-tying jumper with 1:45 left and then scored the first four points of overtime to lift the Lions (24-4) past Hope College 70-66 in overtime on Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Lions will now play in the second round for the third time in school history.

Early on, it was a back-and-fourth affair.  Trailing by four with 6:05 left in the first half, Behrend put on the game's first momentum shifting run – a 13-2 surge that was capitalized by a Zane Hackett (Brookville, PA/Brookville) dunk and three-point play. It was a monstrous jam that quieted most of the 3,000 in attendance.

The Hope faithful would not be silent for long, as the Dutchmen closed the half on a 7-0 run following a Nate VanAredonk tip-in at the horn.

After nine back-and-forth minutes at the start of the second session, Nick DeLisio scored five quick points at the 11:05 mark. Following a Keith Wallace  jumper with 10:15 left, the Lions held their largest lead (eight) of the game.

Hope came right back, going to work at the free-throw line. The Dutchmen scored seven straight points off foul shots, and Hope led by two with 5:12 remaining.

Casey Courneen drained two game-tying free throws for Behrend at the 4:47 mark, and the game remained tied until VanAredonk put the Dutchmen ahead with two from the charity stripe with 2:54 remaining.

That's when Skelly went to work.

The senior, playing with four fouls, drilled a jumper from the baseline with 1:45 left to tie things up.

It turned out to be the last bucket of regulation.

The Lions, playing in their first overtime period of the season, were right at home in the extra session.

Skelly led things off by nailing back-to-back jumpers and Courneen followed with a pair of free throws. It was a quick 6-0 run from which Hope never fully recovered. Not to be understated during that stretch was a suffocating Behrend defense that kept the Dutchmen scoreless through the first 3:57 of overtime.

Alex Eidson did cut the Hope deficit to four on two shots from the foul line, but Wallace responded by splitting a pair from the charity stripe.

Corey McMahon's three kept the Dutchmen alive by slicing the Lions lead to two, but Wallace hit two more free throws to once again put Behrend up two possessions with 46 seconds left.

The Lions followed with a huge stop and Courneen then put Behrend up six at the 34 second mark with two more clutch free throws.

McMahon hit another three to cut the Lions lead to 69-66 with 30 seconds left.  Hope made a stop and had a chance to tie trailing by three, but McMachon instead went for a layup which bounced off the rim and Mike Knoll (Erie, PA/Cathedral Prep) grabbed the rebound with ten seconds left.

Knoll then went to the free throw line needing only to hit one to put the game away, and the sophomore did just that.

Eidson's academic three at the buzzer was wide of the mark, and the party was on for Behrend.

DeLisio led the Lions in scoring with 19 points, and Hackett finished with 12 points and seven intense rebounds off the bench.

Courneen scored 11, and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

Behrend's defense, ranked fifth in the nation, forced 24 turnovers in the win.

The Lions will battle Wheaton College (IL) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, March 8, at 7 p.m at DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland, MI.