Brandywine’s Rally Falls Short As GA Tops Lions In Overtime

MEDIA, Pa. -- Top-seeded Penn State Brandywine trailed by as many as 18 points before staging a late-game rally to send the Penn State University Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament semifinal to overtime, but second-seeded Penn State Greater Allegheny knocked down a trio of three-pointers during the extra session to escape with a 97-94 victory Wednesday night.

Brandywine found itself trailing 48-30 with 51 seconds to go before the half. A three-pointer from Jamar Wright (Wilmington, Del./Conrad School of Science), two free throws from Bryce Barrouk (Glen Mills, Pa./Rustin) and Johnta Dunson's (Philadelphia, Pa./Freire Charter) three-point play during the final 41 ticks brought the Lions with 51-38 at the break.

The Lions whittled the deficit to four points when Barrouk canned a jumper at the 10:28 mark of the second half, but the visitors expanded their lead back to nine just three minutes later and held a seven-point edge with 1:49 remaining.

Two Barrouk free throws brought the count to 83-78 with 92 seconds to play, starting Brandywine's furious late-game rally. Following two missed free throws, Barrouk buried a triple to bring the Lions within two.

Barrouk then gave the Lions their first lead of the night by collecting a steal, sinking a fast-break layup and adding a free throw for an 84-83 edge; however, Christopher Killings answered on the other end for GA, burying a triple to help the visitors vault back in front with 18 seconds to play.

Brandywine ran the clock down during its final possession before a Dunson drive to the hoop resulted in a foul. He sank both free throws with 0.3 seconds on the clock to extend the game an extra five minutes.

Barrouk gave Brandywine an early two-point lead in overtime, but two triples from Damon Gamble and one by Michael Drew put GA in front 97-91 with under one minute to go.

A.J. Dreger (Newtown Square, Pa./Bonner-Prendie) connected for his third triple of the night to cut the deficit in half and after a GA turnover, Brandywine had one final possession with an opportunity to tie, but the Lions' three-point heave was off the mark at the buzzer.

Barrouk was the game's leading scorer during the final contest of his career, pouring in 28 points, along with 11 rebounds. He knocked down all 11 of his free throw attempts and a trio of three-pointers. Barrouk completed his 106-game Brandywine career with 1,749 points, second-most in program history.

Dunson notched 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Colin Hockenbrock (Wilmington, Del./St. Elizabeth) tallied 15 points and eight boards. Dreger collected 14 points, while Wright added 11 points and Devon Jones (Philadelphia, Pa./Abington) produced seven points and four steals.

Brandywine shot 41 percent from the field, but allowed Greater Allegheny to record 51 percent shooting and knock down 11 three-pointers.