McDaniel Clips Brandywine In Season Opener

MEDIA, Pa. -- Isaac Ray buried a three-pointer with 1:33 remaining to give McDaniel the lead for good as the Green Terror overcame a six-point halftime deficit to spoil Penn State Brandywine's men's basketball season opener on Wednesday night.

Brandywine led wire-to-wire during the opening half, building a six-point edge through 20 minutes before McDaniel rallied with the first 10 points of the second stanza to move in front for the first time. The lead changed hands six times over the final 16 minutes with neither team leading by more than six points at any time during the final frame.

Isiah Cook's (Reading, Pa./Reading) three-pointer provided the first points of the season and Brandywine would quickly swell its lead to 10 points at the 14:41 mark following a layup and free throw from James Fisher (Philadelphia, Pa./Upper Darby) that capped a 9-0 spurt.

The Lions would lead by double figures three more times during the first half before McDaniel steadily trimmed the margin, pulling within three on Ray's layup with 7:27 to go. Donte Winfield (Philadelphia, Pa./Simon Gratz) answered with a triple for Brandywine and the Lions' lead would reach as high as eight points with under a minute remaining following a jumper by Quentin Beasley (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt). Devon Duvall responded with a layup to make the deficit six for the Green Terror at the break.

Brandywine was held scoreless for the first 2:52 of the second half as McDaniel used a 10-0 run to surge in front for the first time. Anthony Lattanzi (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) scored the game's next five points, burying a three-pointer and a pair of free throws to push the Lions back ahead with 16:17 to play.

The teams swapped the lead over the next six minutes before a Beasley triple jumpstarted a run of seven-straight Brandywine points, putting the Lions on top 52-46.

McDaniel quickly tied the score at 52-52 and then pushed back into the lead, netting back-to-back buckets with under four minutes remaining in regulation, making the score 59-54, but Terrence Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Communications Tech) countered for Brandywine, drilling a trifecta and added a layup that evened the teams once again.

Ray's three-pointer gave the Green Terror a 62-59 edge with 1:33 to play and, after an empty possession for Brandywine, D.J. Harper added an insurance basket for McDaniel.

Winfield's three-point play sliced the Brandywine deficit to two points with 35 second remaining, but Harper answered with another layup on the next Green Terror possession with the shot clock running down to close out the scoring.

In his Brandywine debut, Brown produced a double-double, notching game highs with 24 points and 10 rebounds (five offensive). Winfield, also making his Brandywine debut, added 14 points and three assists, while Beasley and Lattanzi each chipped in seven points.

Ray paced McDaniel with 12 points and Duvall collected 11 points and six boards off the bench.

Brandywine forced 22 McDaniel turnovers, while committing just nine miscues, but was limited to 32 percent shooting from the field. The Green Terror connected on 54 percent of their shots from the floor.

Brandywine has a date at the Palestra on Saturday when it will face a NCAA Division I opponent for the first time in program history as the Lions battle Penn at 11:30 AM.