USCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinal: Southwestern Adventist 84, Penn State Mont Alto 70

WILLIAMSVILLE, NY- Penn State Mont Alto, the four seed in the USCAA Men's Basketball Tournament took on five seed Southwestern Adventist on Wednesday night on the SUNY-Erie campus at the Burt Flickinger Center. The Knights used hot shooting all night to move into Friday's semifinal contest against Penn State York with a 84-70 victory over Mont Alto.

AJ Aviles scored a team-high 26 points for the Knights and Brandon Choy was 6 of 8 from the field as he scored 16 points. Veron Talla (19) and Richard Burke (16) paced the offensive efforts for the Nittany Lions. 

Mont Alto held the advantage early as Veron Talla hit a three from the corner to push Mont Alto ahead 7-6. Ahead 13-11 with 14:11 remaining in the opening frame, the Knights started their shooting ways to advance the lead to nine on a Domonique Wilkins three pointer with 8:44 left in the half. The Knights lead held around ten for much of the half and they led 42-31 at the break as Guajardo Mancilla hit a buzzer-beater to end the half.

Down 63-48 in the second half, Jaysen Moise made a three pointer to trim the deficit to 63-51. Every Mont Alto answer felt matched by Adventist as they moved ahead 74-53 with just six minutes to play in the contest. Adventist shot 61.5% from the field in the second half as they outscored Mont Alto 42-39 in the final period to win 84-70.

SOUTHWESTERN ADVENTIST LEADERS

AJ Aviles 26 points, 7 assists, 5 steals

Brandon Choy 16 points, 4 assists

PENN STATE MONT ALTO LEADERS

Veron Talla 19 points, 6 rebounds

Richard Burke 16 points, 5 rebounds

Up Next: Mont Alto takes on Southern Maine C.C. in the consolation bracket Thursday at 3:15pm.