Behrend Men Head into Tourney Riding High as Number-Two Seed
Penn State Behrend
men's basketball will head to Lake Erie for the second straight season for
the AMCC tournament on Friday, February 23. The men enter the
postseason off to big victories over top-seeded Lake Erie and number three
Pitt-Bradford. The blue and white will square off against the winner
of Tueday's match-up between #3 Pitt-Bradford and #6 Penn State Altoona.
Behrend is 2-0 against both Bradford and Altoona this season. The men
beat Bradford by five at their place before closing the season out with
another victory over them, 55-53. Behrend was victorious over Altoona
by counts of 65-56 and 77-61. The winner of the tournament earns an
automatic trip to the NCAA Tournament on March 1-2.
Behrend will rely on their top-rated defense to carry them through the tournament. The men allow only 58.5 points a game, a full 10 points less than second-place Lake Erie. They also hold teams to a dismal .397 shooting from the field, another league best. Leading the scoring attack should be Kevin Buczynski (Erie/Villa Maria), his 18.1 points and 7.0 boards a game are fifth and third best in the conference respectively. Justin Kovac (Venetia/Peters Township) will be relied on to manage the game from the point. Kovac can score when needed (7.0 ppg) and his assist/turnover ratio is third in the league at 1.89.