HERSHEY – The Penn State men’s basketball team fell to Pittsburgh, 80-46 Sunday afternoon at the GIANT Center in Hershey. The matchup was the first-ever NCAA Division I basketball game played inside the GIANT Center. Redshirt junior Freddie Dilione V tied his career high with 23 points to lead the Nittany Lions. Freshman Kayden Mingo and senior Josh Reed followed with nine points apiece.

The Panthers started the game 5-for-8 from downtown while Penn State was 1-for-7 from behind the arc through the game’s first six minutes and Pitt owned a 15-6 edge with just under 14 minutes to play in the opening half. That helped fore-front a 10-0 run, which put them ahead 19-6 before a conventional three-point play from Freddie Dilione V and a pair of Josh Reed free throws helped the Nittany Lions trim the Panther lead to 21-11 at 11:15.

The Nittany Lions were still within 10 after another Dilione V basket at the 10:36 mark, but Pitt answered with the next two buckets to put Penn State in a 27-13 hole and force a Nittany Lion timeout with 8:43 to play in the first half. Penn State’s shooting remained cold for the remainder of the opening term as the Panthers worked their lead to 20 at 40-20 heading into halftime.

The Nittany Lions used a strong defensive effort to hold Pitt scoreless for five and a half minutes early in the second half as Penn State was able to string together eight-straight points and trim the Panther lead down to 13 at 41-28 with 14:20 to play.

Penn State was as close as 12 following a Kayden Mingo layup at 13:40, but Pitt responded with a 14-4 run over the next four minutes to give the Panthers a 56-34 lead with 8:40 left. The Nittany Lions were never able to recover as Pitt picked up the 80-46 win.

Dilione V set a career high with 10 made field goals on 17 attempts, pouring in a pair of makes from beyond the arc as well. Dilione V and freshman forward Tibor Mirtic finished with six rebounds apiece to lead all Nittany Lions. Dilione V led PSU for the fifth time in that statistic this season, while Mirtic joined him for the third time.

Freshman guard Kayden Mingo had nine points with a team-leading five assists. Mingo led PSU in assists for the eighth time this season. Freshman forward Justin Houser played a career-high 13 minutes against the Panthers, mustering career-best marks in scoring (five), field goals made (two) and blocks (one).

Penn State moved to 8-4 overall with one non-conference game remaining before the return to Big Ten Conference competition, while Pittsburgh improved to 7-6 overall.