MEADVILLE, Pa. – Allegheny men's basketball flirted with what would have been a signature win for the youth-laden squad, but Chris Saltzman paced an efficient offensive attack as the Lions hung on for an 83-73 victory in the regular-season home finale for the Gators. Although Allegheny had the potential marquee non-conference victory in its sights throughout the night, the Lions preserved the win down the stretch by shooting 92% from the free-throw line.

The Gators (6-18) had great energy from the opening tip and kept the pressure high against a Penn State-Behrend (21-3) club that entered Wednesday's action ranked No. 5 in the Great Lakes Region and just outside the top 25 in the national polls. The score was tied five times in the opening half while there were four lead changes. Neither team led by more than four until the final four minutes of the frame when forward Russ Conley powered the Lions to a seven-point advantage at the break. The Lions, who shot nearly 57% from the field for the game, were efficient early in the paint. Penn State also showed a tremendous amount of patience is it repeatedly ran the shot clock under 10 seconds before attacking the basket.

Trailing 37-30 to start the second half, the Gators delivered a strong offensive effort during the final 20 minutes, but were unable to tighten the gap as Behrend capitalized on a sizzling shooting performance of its own. A jumper by Saltzman with 6:35 on the clock pushed the lead to a game-high 15 points (67-52) at which point Allegheny showed remarkable poise and resiliency as it clawed back into the battle.

D'Andre Corbin ignited the rally with a tough lay-up through traffic while James Ness completed a traditional three-point play to reduce the deficit to single digits. With three minutes left in regulation, Corbin delivered a nice dish to fellow rookie Clark Tritto, who finished the play to pull the Blue and Gold within five (70-65). The teams traded baskets during the next minute after which the Gators were forced to put the Lions on the line. Penn State Behrend was up to the task as it closed out the last two minutes of the game 11-for-11 at the charity stripe.

Ness continued his strong play to the second half of the campaign, finishing the night with a team-high 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting. The solid output marked the fifth time in the last seven games in which the junior forward has scored at least 23 points. It was also the fourth time in the last five games in which Ness has shot at least 70% from the field.

In addition to Ness, Ryan Stanko, Donte Briscoe, and Devone McLeod all contributed double figures in scoring. Stanko scored nine points in the early moments of the game before finishing with 11. Briscoe also had 11 markers including a phenomenal finish off an alley-oop from the top of the key late in the second half. Tritto followed up his break-out effort in Allegheny's win over Denison with a career-best eight points on 3-of-4 shooting in addition to seven boards. Corbin closed with eight points and a game-high six assists.

Saltzman dropped in a game-best 27 points on 8-of-11 shooting. He was also a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line. Nick Dvorksy added 15 points while Justin Kovac scored 11 on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc. The Lions finished the night 24-of-26 at the line while benefitting from a plus-13 advantage in points off turnovers.