The men’s basketball team was defeated in two games this week, losing both games in the state of Kentucky to River State Conference (RSC) rivals Asbury University and Alice Lloyd College.

The dual losses drop the Pioneers back to an even 12-and-12 on the season and drops them to 4-and-6 in RSC play. Point Park still stands in third place in the RSC East division.

On Thursday, the Pioneers fell to the Asbury Eagles 78-67 in a game where the Eagles dropped 49 points in the second half to push them past the Pioneers.

Point Park scored the first bucket of the game and were either ahead or tied with Asbury for the entire first half, being able to out-shoot and out-rebound the Eagles, though the Pioneers were only able to keep Asbury away by as much as six points.

The second half was a different story, as the Eagles simply out-shot and out-rebounded the Pioneers. Asbury also went to the line 29 times and hit 21 free throws from Point Park’s 15 personal fouls in the second half.

Asbury took the lead with 10:51 left to play, and never gave it back, leading by as much as 13.

Adam Scott led the team in scoring as a starter, dropping 23 points in addition to his five rebounds and four assists.

“My mentality was that I have to be aggressive overall in every aspect,” Scott said. “Coach Freedman, who was our head coach that game against Asbury, laid out the perfect game plan; he said ‘just pound it inside and don’t stop’ so that’s what I tried to do and it worked well on our behalf.”

Point Park out-shot Asbury 44-percent to 41-percent, but the Pioneers were only able to shoot 19-percent from beyond the arc compared to the Eagles 43-percent.

In the second game of the week on Saturday, the Pioneers were defeated by the Alice Lloyd Eagles 88-69, in another game where the opposing team simply took over in the second half.

Alice Lloyd held the lead for most of the first half, but Point Park came out shooting in the final five minutes of the first half to carry a seven-point lead into half time.

The lead only lasted four minutes into the second half, as Alice Lloyd exploded for a 59-point second half and ended the game with their highest lead of 16.

“I believe the reason both teams [Asbury and Alice Lloyd] were able to produce so well was because they both made adjustments, and that’s what good coaches and teams do,” Scott said.

In a game where Point Park was barely out-rebounded by the Eagles 44 to 33, the men shot 40-percent from three, but it wouldn’t be enough, as the Eagles shot an even better 46-percent from beyond the arc.

The two teams shot 36-percent and 44-percent from the field respectively. Sophomore Sherron Schifino led the way in scoring with 18 points and tied for a team-high three assists during the game.

The Pioneers are back in Pittsburgh this week to face off against Carlow University at home on Tuesday, as they look to keep their home record strong with an 8-1 record so far.

The men will then travel to Kokomo, Indiana on Saturday to face No. 12-ranked IU Kokomo. Both games are RSC matchups, as the Pioneers stare down their last month of regular season play.