Shenango Edges Brandywine 77-74

SHARON, Pa. -- The Penn State Brandywine men's basketball team dropped its first-ever meeting with Penn State Shenango, falling 77-74 on the road Friday night.

Brandywine, which received 23 points from Jacob Hunt (Wilmington, Del./Brandywine) and 20 points from Pat Gallagher (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown), has clinched a berth in the PSUAC Tournament and needs a win on Saturday at Penn State New Kensington to secure the No. 3 seed. A loss would send Brandywine to the No. 4 seed.

Shenango scored the first seven points of the game and moved in front by 12 at the halfway mark of the first half, but Brandywine rallied, using a late run to get within five at the break. Trailing 32-23, Hunt knocked down three free throws and Gallagher followed with a layup before Josh Smith's (Glassboro, N.J./Glassboro) basket completed the 7-2 spurt with 12 seconds to go in the half.

The Lions twice cut the deficit to one point during the first two minutes of the second half, but each time the hosts answered with a basket. The teams continued to go back-and-forth as Shenango moved the margin to eight before Gallagher countered with two-straight triples to bring the score to 48-46.

Shenango again pulled away, leading by as many as 10 points, and again, Brandywine rallied. Anthony Lattanzi (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) trimmed an eight-point deficit to five by completing a three-point play with 2:41 to go.

Gannon Murray scored the next five points for Shenango, vaulting the hosts to a 73-66 cushion; however, Hunt buried a triple on two-straight Brandywine possessions to pull the Lions within three with 30 seconds left.

After a missed free throw by Shenango, Brandywine had one final opportunity to tie the game, but its final shot was blocked as Shenango held on to secure the victory.

Brandywine shot 41 percent from the field and knocked down 10 three-pointers, but connected on just 12-of-20 free throws and was outrebounded 42-27.

The Lions (13-11, 9-9 PSUAC) wrap up the regular season Saturday afternoon at Penn State New Kensington at 1:00 pm.