BRADFORD, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's basketball team fell to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference's first-place squad La Roche Saturday at the KOA Arena, 80-54.

"I'm proud of our guys' improvements on the defensive end from the last time we played them," Head Coach Ryan Shay said. "La Roche is a talented offensive team and we did a much better job defending the paint. Unfortunately, we had a few too many mistakes on perimeter shooters and Dylan and Justin being in foul trouble really hurt."

With the result, Pitt-Bradford drops to 2-10 in conference play and La Roche remains atop the AMCC with a blemish-free 14-0 conference record.

Justin Kusiappouh led the Panthers with 14 points and Desmond Brogsdale scored 13.

Dylan Mitchell had 10 points on 5-5 shooting.

The Panther defense forced 22 La Roche turnovers and turned the ball over just 15 times themselves.

Ugwunna Amadi grabbed five steals and Reggie Rogers collected four to lead a defensive effort of 14 total steals, marking the ninth time the Panthers have collected 10 or more steals in a single game this season.

Pitt-Bradford jumped out to a hot start, holding a 22-13 lead at the 8:49 mark.

But La Roche outscored the Panthers 24-8 the rest of the way and took a 37-30 lead into the half.

The second half belonged to La Roche as the Redhawks shot 53.3 percent and made nine three-pointers in the second half alone to score 43 points.

Three buckets from Kusiappouh and a three-pointer from Brogsdale highlighted the Panthers' offensive effort in the second half, which totaled 24 points.

La Roche was eventually able to hang on for the 80-54 victory.

Brogsdale knocked down all three of the team's three-pointers.

Rogers led the Panthers with five assists.

Up next, Pitt-Bradford will have a quick turnaround as it will head to D'Youville Monday for an AMCC contest. Pitt-Bradford will return home Thursday to host Hilbert for the make-up game.