ALFRED, NY-- The Alfred University men’s basketball team lost its 2009-10 season opener Sunday afternoon, falling to visiting Penn State-Dubois, 69-66 at the McLane Center.

AU (0-1, 0-0 Empire 8) led 37-29 at the half, but Penn State-Dubois (1-0) outscored the Saxons 40-29 in the second half. Junior guard Mike Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) scored a team-high 24 points, for AU. Junior guard Gary Kwiecien (Perry, NY/Perry) added 10 points and three assists and senior forward Jared Patt (Nelson, PA/Elkland Area) had a game-high four steals and a team-high six rebounds.

Dubois shot 52 percent from the field to only 37.3 percent for Alfred, and the visitors out rebounded the Saxons 52-23.

Chris Dickison scored a game high 26 points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds to lead Dubois. Marcus Genevro added 14 points and 10 boards.

Alfred is in action next on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. against visiting Keuka.