ERIE, Pa. – The Thiel College men's basketball team was defeated by the Penn State Behrend Lions Monday in non-conference action at the Junker Center, 63-46.
 
A back-and-forth first half, which featured nine lead changes, saw the Lions hold a 25-24 lead over the Tomcats at the break. Tomcat freshman guard Anthony Byrd (Plantation, Fla./Blanche Ely) came off the bench to score eight points in the first half.
 
The Lions slowly started to pull away in the second half as they claimed a 7-point lead (36-29) on Malike Brinson's 3-pointer at the 15:33 mark.
 
Thiel pulled within five with 10:23 to play on an Alonzo Brown (Largo, Fla./Pinellas Park) layup. From that point the Lions went on a 21-9 run over the final 10 minutes to seal the non-conference win.
 
Brown led the Tomcats with 11 points. Byrd scored 10 points and led Thiel with six rebounds.
 
Dan Walker led the Lions with 20 points. Mike Fischer scored 13 points and led his team with eight rebounds.
 
The Tomcats will be back in action Sunday when they take on the Division II Walsh Cavaliers on the road. The game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.