Emmitsburg, Md. (August 28, 2023)--Mount St. Mary's men's basketball will host Bucknell in a charity exhibition game set for Saturday, Oct. 28, at Knott Arena, in support of Pat Behan, former Bucknell player and boys' basketball coach at St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C.  Pat was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and proceeds from the game will  go to the Patrick Behan Support Trust to provide financial support for Pat's care and help him fight this battle.
 
""Pat Behan is a very close friend, and having an exhibition game in his honor to benefit Behan Strong is important to both our program and Bucknell's," said Mount St. Mary's head coach Dan Engelstad.  "It has been great collaborating with Coach Griffin to organize the charity exhibition to create ALS awareness.  We hope to pack Knott Arena and need the support of the Mount and Bucknell fan base as well as the local community to make this a special event."
 
"The Bucknell men's basketball program cares deeply about Pat Behan, and we are committed to doing our part in helping him fight this terrible disease, which also comes with a tremendous financial burden," said Bucknell head coach John Griffin III. "On a personal note, I was his teammate and roommate at Bucknell. Pat is a special person, and this is a great opportunity for all of us as a community to help him out. Coach Engelstad is also a very close friend of Pat's, and I want to thank him and the Mount St. Mary's athletics staff for hosting this special game. We are fortunate that the NCAA allows opportunities to have events such as this to help out a cause, and the fight against ALS is something that is very important to both programs." 
 
Behan's best season at Bucknell was his junior year, when he earned Second Team All-Patriot League honors and earned the Benton A. Kribbs Award as the team MVP. He led the team in scoring (13.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 rpg) that year. He had a torrid stretch late in the season when he recorded five straight 20-point games. Behan captained the team as a senior in 2009-10. In his career he played in 119 of a possible 123 games and totaled 925 points.
 
More information about Pat can be found at the BehanStrong website at https://www.behanstrong.com/.  
 
The Mountaineers are looking to build off a strong finish to the 2022-23 campaign that saw the team post a 5-2 record over the final seven games, including a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament victory.  There is plenty of excitement for Bucknell entering the season as the former standout Griffin III has returned to his alma mater as head coach.
 
Tip-off for the charity exhibition game will be 4:00 p.m. on October 28 and tickets are on sale now.