Bradford, Pa. -- Mount Aloysius men's basketball avenged their early season loss to the Pitt-Bradford Panthers, edging out their hosts 85-84 in Saturday's AMCC contest. 

The Mounties opened the game cold, struggling to score across the opening minutes of the game while their opponents carved out a nine point lead. The Panthers would maintain this division throughout the first half of the first, when junior forward De'Von Haggans (Harrisburg, PA, Central Dauphin) found his footing inside. Pitt-Bradford struggled to find an answer for Haggan's interior play without fouling, and late help defense opened up opportunities on the perimeter for the Mounties. Junior forward Tyler Kidd (Garfield Heights, Ohio, Saint Ignatius) and senior guard Rafael Ibáñez Medina (Mexico City, Mexico, Canarias Basketball Academy) would both hit threes to cut into the Panther lead at opportune times, holding the Panther lead to just 5 heading in to halftime. 

Pitt-Bradford's perimeter shooting gave the Mounties some headaches, preventing the visitors from capitalizing on momentum at various points throughout. Senior forward Reggie Priah (Cleveland, Ohio, Euclid) would battle in the paint to even the score for the first time since tip off, but a Panther three on the next possession would again push the game in their favor. Junior guard Will Hagwood (Willowick, Ohio, South) would answer in kind, hitting a pair of threes with ten minutes left in the game to give the Mounties their first lead of the contest. 

Free throw discipline was the name of the game; although the Panthers earned one more free throw than the Mounties, the visitors were able to shoot 87.5% from the line compared to Pitt-Bradford's 64%. Despite the hosts leading the Mounties in three point percentage, turnovers, and bench points, Mount Aloysius would dominate the boards, grabbing 17 more rebounds than their opponents.

The Mounties would hold a slight lead until the final seconds of the game, when a late foul would give the Panthers a one-point lead with just 19 seconds to play. The Mounties would come out of a timeout with Priah narrowly missing the layup attempt, but Haggans would snag the massive offensive board, getting fouled on the put-back attempt to be sent to the line with just two seconds left to play. Haggans would hit both, winning the game for the Mounties 85-84.

Mount Aloysius travels to Pittsburgh to take on La Roche this Wednesday, January 24th. La Roche enters the contest on a six-game win streak, coming off an 85-69 win over Alfred State.