Lions Hold Off Williamson Trade For First Win

MEDIA, Pa. -- The Penn State Brandywine men's basketball withstood a late rally by Williamson Trade and held on for a 66-63 victory, the team's first of the season, on Thursday night in front of its home crowd.

Brandywine led by double figures with 4:37 to play, but the Mechanics slowly began to chip away. Back-to-back buckets for Williamson brought the deficit to just six, but Amir Johnson (Philadelphia, Pa./Community Academy) answered with a layup and Marcus Turner (Claymont, Del./Chichester) followed with a free throw to push the lead back to nine at the 1:44 mark; however, those would be Brandywine's final points.

Three free throws and a three-pointer by David Clapp drew Williamson within three and the Mechanics gained possession with 11 seconds to play following a Brandywine missed free throw. Hakim Andrews' potential game-tying triple was off the mark and, after Williamson grabbed the offensive rebound, Jamil Stokes (Philadelphia, Pa./Creative Learning Academy) blocked Williamson's final attempt to help secure the win for Brandywine.

The Lions led by double figures for the majority of the final half, pushing the edge as large as 14 at the 18:51 mark on Cyrie Spencer's (Sharon Hill, Pa./Academy Park) jumper.

The first 15 minutes of the game were closely contested before a 17-5 Brandywine run gave the home team a 12-point lead heading into the break. Kenneth Murphy (Philadelphia, Pa./George Washington Carver) started the surge with four-straight points and Turner fueled the run by adding three triples over the final 3:10 of the half.

Johnson netted a team-high 19 points on 9-of-16 shooting, while adding a Brandywine best six rebounds. Turner totaled 12 points, with 11 coming during the first half, and Murphy added six points and six assists. Naifes Smalls (Philadelphia, Pa./PE&T Charter) collected nine points and five boards, while Spencer registered 10 points.

Brandywine connected on 25-of-52 shots from the field, shooting 48 percent, and limited Williamson to 35 percent shooting. The Lions held a 36-32 edge on the boards and recorded 26 points off 21 Mechanic turnovers.

The Lions (1-2) are idle until Saturday, Nov. 28 when they hit the road again for a trip to NCAA Division II Mansfield at 4:00 pm.