Nittany Lions win conference thriller 61-60

Penn State Mont Alto 61, Penn State New Kensington 60

Penn State Mont Alto survived a hot shooting half from Penn State New Kensington in the second half to escape with a conference win, 61-60 on Saturday afternoon. Mont Alto led by as much as eight points with two minutes remaining before New Kensington went on a 9-0 run to take a one point lead.

Dariel Rivera captured the final lead for Mont Alto with the score 61-60 on his layup with five seconds remaining. A New Kensington turnover gave Mont Alto the possession with one second remaining. Rivera received the inbounds pass and was fouled immediately to shoot two free throws. Rivera missed the first foul shot, prompting a Penn State Mont Alto timeout from Head Coach Jack Schenzel.

Rivera would intentially miss the second free throw with .8 seconds left as it would be nearly impossible for a New Kensington shot attempt in the alloted time. The New Kensington desperation attempt fell short as Mont Alto remained perfect on the season with a 5-0 overall record and a 3-0 mark in PSUAC play.

Nathan Osei (17), Dariel Rivera (14) and Cameron Williams (13) led the scoring for Mont Alto. Williams had eight boards and Rivera added seven. Caleb Eckert had a team-high six steals in the winning effort.

Jovan Kojic led New Kensington with 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting to go with four rebounds. Benjamin Cunningham was second on the team in scoring with 14, shooting a perfect 5 of from the field.

Penn State Mont Alto was able to hang on for the win despite shooting 8 of 17 (47%) from the charity stripe. New Kensington was nearly perfect going 11 of 12 from the free throw line.

Up Next: Penn State Mont Alto travels to Glenville State for non-conference action on Sunday, November 27 at 4:00.