ST. MARYS CITY, MD. – A second half surge helped the Penn State Abington men's basketball take the lead, but the Nittany Lions couldn't hold on in a 65-62 loss to St. Mary's Maryland on Tuesday night. The Nittany Lions fall to 6-4 after the loss.

Freshman Mark Davis set a new career benchmark of 19 points to lead the Nittany Lions. Right behind, junior Jay Fitzgerald knocked down 18 points for Abington.

In the first half the Nittany Lions held a slim advantage in the first five minutes thanks to three shots from Davis Mohamed Mansaray, and Lexuus Fasce to lead the Seahawks 9-8.  St. Mary's shifted momentum with an 8-3 run getting their points in the paint.  The hosts pushed their lead to double digits after hitting a three-pointer to take a 28-18 lead over Abington with only 5:27 left in the half.  A fast break three from Amir Hill cut the lead before the half but the Seahawks led 34-26 at the break.

Abington chipped away at the lead by getting tough points in the paint and hitting their free-throws to eventually take a 41-40 advantage with under 14 minutes left in the second half. Both teams battled with the lead changing hands multiple times over the next few minutes, but it would be the hosts that would pull away. A 9-0 run for the Seahawks helped them pull ahead 54-48. With only three minutes left in the game, St. Mary's held an eight point margin, but the Nittany Lions didn't fold with a huge three-ball from Davis. Seconds later Brian Randolph III forced a turnover and took it to the bucket to force the Seahawks to take a timeout and regroup. Out of the timeout Davis hit another shot to come within one point, but St. Mary's kept the lead by hitting a clutch bucket and drained the and one. Under a minute to go down by four, Fitzgerald kept the Nittany Lions alive with his shot from downtown. The Nittany Lions had multiple shots down the stretch to take the lead or force overtime, but couldn't convert.

Next the Nittany Lions will host SUNY Cobleskill for an important conference matchup on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.