Brandywine Falls Short At Wilkes-Barre

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Frantz Jean Pierre scored 30 points and Penn State Wilkes-Barre held off the Penn State Brandywine men's basketball team by a score of 94-79 on Tuesday night.

Four Brandywine starters combined for 66 points as Colin Hockenbrock (Wilmington, Del./St. Elizabeth) matched a season high with 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting, while Johnta Dunson (Philadelphia, Pa./Freire Charter) notched 16 points. Jamar Wright (Wilmington, Del./Conrad School of Science) and Dean Kane (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) each set career scoring bests with Wright pouring in 17 points (7-12 FG) and Kane contributing 14 points.

Wilkes-Barre opened up a 13-point lead through 13 minutes of play, but Brandywine rallied by closing the half with a 15-8 spurt to close within six at the break.

The hosts scored 10 of the first 13 points during the second half and ballooned their lead to its largest margin of the night, 20 points, when Shaquille Ricks sank a jumper at the 10:03 mark.

Brandywine quickly chipped away at the deficit as Dunson and Hockenbrock both registered three-point plays and Kane buried one of his four three-pointers to get the Lions within 10 just 1:06 later.

Two free throws from Dunson brought the score to 77-69 with 5:36 to go, but Clifton Tracey answered with a triple for Wilkes-Barre to push the margin back to double figures.

The Lions closed within eight points once more when Dunson made 1-of-2 free throws with 65 ticks left on the clock; however, Wilkes-Barre knocked down five-of-six free throws during the final 40 seconds to secure the victory.

Brandywine shot 45 percent from the field overall, making 18 of its 31 field goal attempts during the second half, but yielded 49 percent shooting by Wilkes-Barre.

Hockenbrock pulled down a team-best six rebounds and blocked two shots, while Kane tallied four steals. In addition to his game-high 30 points, Jean Pierre grabbed a game-best 13 boards for Wilkes-Barre.

Brandywine (2-6, 0-4 PSUAC) hosts Penn State Lehigh Valley Saturday at 1:00 PM.