Box Score Abington, Pa. – The Penn State Abington men's basketball squad took conference leaders Lancaster Bible College to the brink earlier this evening, but were unable to pull off the upset. The Nittany Lions took a 38-27 lead into the halftime break, but ultimately fell by a score of 72-71. Mike Marvin closed out his final home game for Penn State Abington in style, scoring 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting and pulling in 10 rebounds to lead the Nittany Lions in the Senior Night game. Max Alton added another 16 points, and Nisiar Smith was the other double-digit scorer with 10 points in the contest. The Chargers were led by C.J. Dunston, who scored 22 points in a 9-for-14 performance. Kyle Battell, Abington's other senior player, hit a three-point basket and dished out three assists in his final home game for the Nittany Lions.
 
From the beginning, it appeared as if the Chargers (16-7, 14-2 NEAC) would assert their dominance in tonight's contest. The visitors opened the game on an 8-0 run, capped off by a ridiculous dunk by Dondre Perry on a fast break, plus the and-1 free throw he earned while throwing down his slam. However, the Nittany Lions (13-10, 10-6 NEAC) weathered the early storm and managed to steadily close down the gap with solid defense and an efficient high-low offense. When Max Alton hit a jumper with 8:44 left to play in the half, it put the Blue and White ahead for the first time in the game by a score of 16-15. From then on, Abington was able to extend their lead through to the end of the half. With a few minutes remaining, Marvin earned an and-1 of his own on a solid layup down low to put the Nittany Lions up by eight, and then Max Alton followed that up a minute later with a three-pointer to make it an 11-point lead. When the horn sounded to send the teams to their lockers, the Nittany Lions were up double-digits on the North Eastern Athletic Conference leaders.
 
However, Penn State Abington was unable to hold off Lancaster Bible in the second half, where they renewed their charge with vigor. Over the first 8:07, the visitors outscored Penn State Abington 22-11 thanks to solid outside shooting and a withering defensive effort. Over the next six minutes, the teams traded blows, and the lead, back-and-forth, with neither side able to put together any sort of run. Kyle Garrett hit a reverse layup at the 5:57 mark, thanks to a nice feed from Alex Agyedu, which put Penn State Abington back in front by a score of 62-60. After the Chargers nailed a three, Alton came back to the other end with a sweet jump shot to put the Nittany Lions ahead by one. However, Lancaster Bible came back with yet another basket plus the foul to retake the lead, and this time it would be for good. With 1:01 left in the game, another dunk from the visitors made it a 69-72 game. Agyedu raced down to the other end of the floor and managed to convert a layup to cut the Penn State Abington deficit to just a single point. Head coach Chris Potash called a timeout to set the defense for the Nittany Lions with just 47 seconds left to play and the team trailing 72-71. Penn State Abington put together one of their best defensive possessions of the game following the timeout, forcing Lancaster Bible to turn the ball over with 13 seconds left to play. The Nittany Lions were able to draw up one final play, but unfortunately were unable to get a shot off, and Lancaster Bible held on for the narrow victory.
 
With the loss, the Nittany Lions drop to 13-10 on the season and 10-6 in conference play. The team now finds themselves in fourth place in the conference standings, just a half-game behind Morrisville State for the third position. The Mustangs have one less loss and face off against Wells tomorrow night in their next conference game. Penn State Abington now has one weekend of conference play remaining to sort out the leaderboard, with games at Cazenovia and Morrisville State looming on Friday and Saturday. The Nittany Lions will look to close out their regular season on a winning streak and take some momentum into the postseason. Be sure to follow the progress of all Penn State Abington athletics squads by checking in regularly at abingtonsports.com!