Cresson, Pa. -- Mount Aloysius men's basketball suffered a senior night defeat this Saturday, February 11th to the Alfred State Pioneers. 

Seniors Ross Boland (Newark, N.J., Great Oaks Charter), Rafael Ibáñez Medina (Mexico City, Mexico, Canarias Basketball Academy), and Ebone Junior (Silver Spring, Md., Paint Branch) were honored for their contributions to the program. Boland played two season with the Mounties as a guard, appearing in 19 games for the program. Ibáñez Medina played 46 games for the Mounties over three seasons, starting 19 games. Junior spent two seasons as a Mountie, earning 24 starts across 38 games played. 

The game would start with a foul on the first possession, setting the tone for the contest. Both teams struggled against the whistle while finding little success from the floor, with the Pioneers eventually taking a 16-6 lead after seven minutes of play. Guard Will Hagwood (Willowick, Ohio, South) would be rewarded for aggressive play, scoring 11 of the Mounties 32 first half points mostly from the charity stripe. With the constant fouls, both teams would find it difficult to establish a shooting rhythm, with Alfred State shooting 38% in the first half while the Mounties shot just 29%. 

Although the lid on the basket seemed to persist for all the Mounties, forward De'Von Haggans (Harrisburg, PA, Central Dauphin) made his presence known with 15 rebounds, including 7 offense boards. Despite the rebounding, the Mounties were uncharacteristically outscored inside, with the Pioneers scoring 30 interior points while the Mountie scored 24. 

Both in scoreline and in game flow, the second half was nearly identical to the first, with constant fouls slowing the pace to a crawl. Both teams would match their first half outputs, with the Mounties scoring 32 to their opponents 41. Unable to overcome the double digit deficit, the Mounties would fall 64-82 to the visitors. There would be 47 fouls across the 40 minutes of play, with the Mounties earning 37 free throw attempts to the Pioneer's 33.