Lancaster, Pa. – The Penn State Abington men's basketball team finished as the United East Conference runner-up for the first time in the Division III era as the third-seeded Nittany Lions dropped an 87-76 decision to top-seeded and host Lancaster Bible on Saturday. 
 
Abington, which reached the finals following Friday's 63-56 victory over two-time defending conference champion, Penn State Harrisburg, ended the season under first-year head coach Ryan Van Zelst with an 18-9 record. It marked the most wins since the program entered Division III.  

Score: Lancaster Bible 87, Penn State Abington 76
Records: Penn State Abington (18-9, 11-5 UEC) | Lancaster Bible (20-7, 12-4 UEC) 
Location: Lancaster, Pa. (Horst Athletic Center)
 
How It Happened
* Lancaster Bible came out flying and scored the first 10 points of the contest. A pair of Alex Salata III free throws after a Chargers' technical foul got Penn State Abington on the scoreboard.  Lancaster Bible led by as many as 14 on two occasions, the last coming at 34-20 with 2:45 left in the half. Salata then went off as he scored 10 points in a 12-2 run to pull the Nittany Lions to within four, 36-32 at the half. Salata finished with 17 points in the opening 20 minutes.
 
* Lancaster Bible had a strong start to the second half as well as an 8-0 run upped its lead to 12. Back-to-back layups by Salata pulled Abington to within eight, but an 18-8 spurt by the Chargers made it a 62-44 ballgame halfway through the stanza.
 
* Abington made one last run as a Brian Randolph III three-pointer and back-to-back treys from Alex Podolski made it 85-74 with 1:05 to go. However, the Chargers closed it out to clinch the championship.
 
Inside the Box Score
 * Salata finished with 29 points as he was 8-for-15 from the floor (3-for-7 from 3-point land) and 10-for-12 from the line. He added six assists. The senior wrapped up his career with 898 points.
 
* Randolph capped his career with an 18-point, 12-rebound effort while Podolski and Jake Schalki added eight points apiece. Randolph totaled 805 points in a Nittany Lion uniform.
  
* For Lancaster Bible, Jordan Shewbridge was named the championship Most Valuable Player as he hit six 3-pointers and netted 39 points. Adam Stoltzfus contributed 12 points in the win. 

All-Time Series
Today marked the 24^th meeting between Abington and Lancaster Bible since the start of the 2011-12 season.  The Nittany Lions are now 6-18 versus the Chargers in the all-time series. Today was the first time the two schools met in the postseason.
 
Abington in the Postseason
The Nittany Lions, who were in the conference playoffs for the first time since 2019, bring home a postseason trophy for the first time in the Division III era as the United East runner-up. Abington is now 3-5 all-time in the postseason.