Second-Half Run, Rebounding Lead Brandywine Past Bryn Athyn

MEDIA, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine commanded the boards all night and a 17-0 second-half run helped the Lions seize control of the game as Brandywine won its men's basketball home opener by a score of 89-71 over Bryn Athyn on Tuesday night.

Brandywine, which trailed by four points before the long run, outrebounded Bryn Athyn 55-35, including 20 boards that came on the offensive end of the floor. The Lions saw six players pull in at least six rebounds with Dwayne Coleman's (Philadelphia, Pa./Delaware Valley Charter) 10 and Isiah Cook's (Reading, Pa./Reading) eight leading the way.

Bryn Athyn controlled the game in the early going, pushing its lead as large as 13 points following a three-pointer by Rahim Washington with 6:30 to go in the first half. Cook's triple with 48 ticks left on the clock before halftime sliced the margin to two, but Lamarr Crenshaw countered with a three for BAC and the visitors took a 42-37 edge into the break.

Brandywine started hot in the second half, scoring the first seven points, the last two of which came on a Pat Gallagher (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) layup that gave Brandywine its first lead at 44-42.

Bryn Athyn answered with the next six points, but those would be its final tallies for over five minutes as Brandywine surged away with a 17-0 run. Seven different Lions scored during the spurt, including Mike Ziegler (Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove), who capped the run with a layup to make the score 61-44.

BAC trimmed the deficit as low as 10 points with 6:38 to go; however, Gallagher responded by sinking a layup and Coleman followed with an acrobatic tip-in on the Lions' next possession to keep Brandywine firmly in control.

Brandywine sank five free throws during the final two minutes to put the game away and connected on 24-of-34 overall during the game. The Lions shot a scorching 60 percent (16-27) from the field during the second half and made 43 percent of their shots from the field overall, while holding BAC to 39 percent shooting for the game.

Cook paced all players with 22 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-7 marksmanship from three-point range. He also knocked down 9-of-10 free throws.

Coleman coupled his 10 rebounds with 13 points for his second double-double of the year, while Gallagher tallied 13 points, six boards and a team-best five assists. R.J. Dixon (Reading, Pa./Reading) chipped in eight points and six boards.

Brandywine (2-2) opens conference play on its home floor on Tuesday, Nov. 27 against Penn State Hazleton at 8:00 pm.