SCRANTON, PA. – In the first round the Electric City Tournament the Penn State Abington men's basketball team faced off against another Penn State School in Altoona but were defeated 81-74 on Friday night. The Nittany Lions fall to 3-3 for the season.

Junior guard Alex Podolski led the Nittany Lions with 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds and junior Brian Randolph III chipped in 15 points for the night.

Abington started the game hot from behind the arc with Mohamed Mansaray and Podolski opening up the game with a 10-2 run.  After five minutes the Nittany Lions pushed their lead to 11 points over Altoona after a bucket from Zack Semmler. With 10 minutes off the clock Altoona started to claw themselves back into the game with a 16-2 run over three minutes. Altoona took a five point lead but a three-ball from Blake Henis tied the game back up at 33 apiece. Abington fell behind again, but a dunk right before the break by Alex Salata III made it 40-39 at the half.

In the second half the Nittany Lions battled each other but another shot from downtown by Henis gave Abington the advantage again. Randolph pushed the Nittany Lions lead to six points after his three-ball from behind the arc. With 10 minutes remaining Abington went up by double digits with Mansaray earning the bucket in the paint. Altoona rallied with a 14-2 run to take the lead, but Randolph stopped the bleeding with his shot from behind the arc. Tied 67-67, Altoona turned up on the floor with another run in their favor.  With only 90 seconds remaining Altoona pulled ahead 78-69, but Semmler gave the Nittany Lions hope with his three-pointer to cut the lead.  Altoona would go on to hold off Abington by hitting their free throws down the stretch.

Abington will be back and face tournament hosts Marywood in the Consolation game tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m.