Lions’ Late Charge Falls Short Against Villa Maria

MEDIA, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine forced 20 second-half turnovers, but Villa Maria (N.Y.) held off the Lions' charge during the final minutes, earning an 88-76 victory on Friday night.

The teams traded baskets over the first 10 minutes of the contest with neither team holding a lead larger than four points until Damone Brown buried a three-pointer at the 9:06 mark, capping an 8-0 Viking spurt.

The visitors' lead grew to 10 points three minutes later, but a pair of free throws from James Fisher (Philadelphia, Pa./Upper Darby) helped bring the Lions within six with under one minute to play in the half. Fisher netted 14 of Brandywine's 32 first-half points as the Lions entered the break trailing 40-32.

Brandywine was held off the scoreboard for nearly four minutes to begin the second half as Villa Maria ballooned its edge to 19 points with an 11-0 surge. The Vikings' lead reached 24 points, its largest of the game, following a triple by Andre Diggs with 7:39 to play.

Marcus Turner (Claymont, Del./Chichester) started a 6-0 Lions' spurt with a layup one minute later and Cyrie Spencer (Sharon Hill, Pa./Academy Park) followed with a three-point play at the 4:09 mark to make the deficit 14.

A Turner three-pointer and two free throws from Pat Gallagher (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) brought Brandywine within nine with 1:42 to play. On two occasions during the final 49 seconds, Brandywine forced a turnover and converted the Viking miscue into two points on the offensive end, making the deficit seven points, but the Lions would get no closer.

Fisher led all players with 18 points and added six assists, six steals and five rebounds, while Spencer produced a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double.

Turner and Isaiah Lester (Morton, Pa./Ridley) both tallied 10 points. Lester hauled in seven boards and collected four steals.

Brandywine forced 28 Villa Maria turnovers and connected on 14-of-16 free throw attempts; however, the Lions were limited to 33 percent shooting from the field and the Vikings drained 45 percent of their shots.

Brandywine (2-10) travels to New York City Monday evening for a 7:00 pm game at Vaughn College.