POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – Behind a stellar performance off the bench from Jay Fitzgerald (Philadelphia, PA), helped the Penn State Abington men's basketball earned its first win of the season with an 85-77 victory over Miersicordia in the opening game of the Vassar Tipoff Tournament. With the win the Nittany Lions move to 1-1 for the season.

Fitzgerald led the Nittany Lions with 18 points for the game and under the boards junior Bobby Olsen (Florida, NY) earned 17 points.

Abington earned their points in the paint early with a 6-0 run to start the game. The Cougars hung in with some clutch shooting from the floor, but the Nittany Lions dominated the glass with 26 of their 41 points in the first half coming from under the rim. A massive 19-4 run in the middle of the first half put the Nittany Lions in the driver's seat early up 29-10 with 8:06 left on the clock. In the final three minutes the Cougars clawed back to within 10 points finishing on an 11-0 run to end the half.

A pair of shots from downtown by John Ryan (Warminster, PA) and Devin Hill (Philadelphia, PA) put the Nittany Lions in a comfortable 52-17 lead in the first three minutes of the second half. Later in the period Fitzgerald pushed the lead to 20 points with 11:19 remaining in the game. The cougars made a late run and cut the deficit to under 10 points, but couldn't overcome the Nittany Lions.

Abington will face off against the tournament hosts tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. after Vassar defeated the College of New Rochelle 101-88.