Brandywine Opens Season With Setback Against Mansfield

MEDIA, Pa. -- NCAA Division II Mansfield outscored Penn State Brandywine 53-40 during the second half and pulled away for a 91-70 victory on Tuesday night during the Lions' men's basketball season opener.

Brandywine opened up a four-point lead midway through the first half thanks for four made three-pointers, the final two coming off the hands of James Fisher (Philadelphia, Pa./Upper Darby).

Mansfield answered with an 11-0 surge, taking a seven-point lead, but Brandywine hung around, pulling with three points on two occasions. Manny Folkes (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) sank two free throws to make the score 31-28 with 2:19 to play in the half; however, Mansfield netted seven of the final nine points to bring a 38-30 edge into halftime.

The Mountaineers scored the first six points of the second half to grow their lead to double figures for the first time and slowly extended the advantage to 17 by the midpoint of the final half.

Four consecutive Brandywine points made the score 56-43, but Mansfield needed just 25 seconds to push the lead past 20 points, using a 9-0 surge to take control of the game.

Isaiah Lester (Morton, Pa./Ridley) topped the Lions in scoring with 16 points, while Isaiah Wilmore (Philadelphia, Pa./Ben Franklin) added 12 points and four steals. Jamal Jones (Chester, Pa./Chester) hauled in a team-best seven rebounds, blocked four shots and added seven points.

Brandywine connected on 40 percent (22-55) of its shots from the field, but was haunted by 28 turnovers and 18-of-30 shooting at the free throw stripe.

The Mountaineers (2-1) shot over 50 percent (30-59) from the floor and sank 29-of-35 free throws. Six Mountaineers reached double figures in scoring, while Da'Quan Jones collected eight steals and four assists.

Brandywine (0-1) is back at home Thursday night against Centenary (N.J.) at 7:00 pm.