ABINGTON, Pa. - The Penn State Abington men's basketball team kicks off its 2011-12 season this evening at 8 p.m. the Nate Ware Classic at host Eastern University. The team will play either Lehman College or Eastern Nazarene University Saturday at 1 or 3 p.m. Webcast and live stats for all games are available online.

The Lions return four of the top five scorers from this past season's 3-22 team, including senior tri-captain Will Alton (Pennington, N.J. / Hopewell Valley) and his team-high 17.8 ppg. Fellow senior captains Corey Curtis (Philadelphia, Pa. / BOK Tech) and Josh Howard ( Bensalem, Pa. / Bensalem) combined for more than 25 ppg this past season, coach Chris Potash's first with the program.

Eastern defended its homecourt, defeating Rosemont, 58-55, on Nov. 15. With 15 points, senior G Collin Whipple led four Ravens in double figures.

Lehman, which had four players in double figures, won its season opener, 72-71, on Nov. 15 versus Berkeley (N.Y.) after storming back from as much as an 11 point deficit. Kelvin Gil hit two free throws with four second remaining to give the Lightning its only lead of the game.

Eastern Nazarene opened its 2011-2012 campaign on Nov. 15 with a 67-64 home loss to Suffolk University. Junior F Chima Ezeigbo paced the Lions with 15 points and 15 rebounds.