Brandywine Edges Hazleton 67-66; Wins Fourth-Straight PSUAC Game

HAZLETON, Pa. – Penn State Brandywine claimed its fourth consecutive conference victory and won its first game away from home this season on Wednesday night as the Lions held off Penn State Hazleton 67-66 in Penn State University Athletic Conference men's basketball action.

The Lions owned a 67-60 lead with 35 seconds left following a Colin Hockenbrock (Wilmington, Del./St. Elizabeth) basket, but Hazleton answered with a three-pointer, forced a turnover, and buried another triple during next 34 seconds to get within one. With less than one second remaining, Brandywine misfired on a free throw and Hazleton grabbed the rebound, but the hosts were unable to hoist a shot before the buzzer as Brandywine held on.

The Lions, who cut a 10-point first-half deficit to four at halftime, tied the score for the first time during the second period when Bryce Barrouk (Glen Mills, Pa./Rustin) converted a three-point play, knotting the count at 37-37 with 16:57 to go.

Hazleton countered with a 7-2 spurt to open up a five-point lead two minutes later; however, Brandywine answered with an 11-0 surge, fueled by baskets from Hockenbrock, Barrouk, Vince Zulli (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) and Tim Mattern (Lincoln University, Pa./Salesianum) to open up a 50-44 edge.

Another run by Hazleton, this time outscoring Brandywine 12-4 in a span of 5:50, put the hosts back on top by one at 56-55. The teams swapped the lead over the next two possessions before Johnta Dunson (Philadelphia, Pa./Friere Charter) canned buckets on consecutive possessions to hand Brandywine a 61-58 edge.

Barrouk followed with a layup and Hockenbrock knocked down a pair of shots in a 32-second span to extend the Lions' lead to seven points with 35 seconds to play.

Hockenbrock led the way for the Lions by producing an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double, while Barrouk paired 11 points with 10 rebounds.

Dunson added 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting and Jordan Graves (Media, Pa./Strath Haven) chipped in eight points for Brandywine, which dominated in the paint, outscoring Hazleton 42-24, and held a 38-31 rebounding edge.

Brandywine shot 46 percent from the field, while Hazleton knocked down 40 percent of its shots from the floor.

Brandywine (6-12, 4-5 PSUAC) will look to continue its winning ways on Saturday when the Lions host Penn State Schuylkill at 2:00 PM.