Lehigh Valley Edges Past Brandywine 85-81

MEDIA, Pennsylvania -- The Penn State Brandywine men's basketball team dropped its Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference opener to Penn State Lehigh Valley on Saturday afternoon, falling 85-81 at the Brandywine Athletic Center.

Lehigh Valley jumped out to a 13-7 lead, but Brandywine netted the game's next seven points, including four from Chris Lyons (Havertown, Pa./Haverford), to jump in front.

The Lions pushed their edge as big as seven following Marcus Turner's (Claymont, Del./Chichester) three-pointer at the 10:57 mark; however, Lehigh Valley used a 14-0 surge spanning four minutes as it built a 28-21 advantage.

Lehigh Valley held a slim lead for the duration of the first half and went into the locker rooms in front 41-37 as Jordan Young canned a triple just before the halftime buzzer.

Young's three-pointer at the 15:35 mark extended the Lehigh Valley lead to 50-42. The Lions mounted a rally as Amir Davis (Philadelphia, Pa./Walter Palmer Charter) drilled a triple and Cyrie Spencer (Sharon Hill, Pa./Academy Park) added a layup, bringing Brandywine within one.

Two minutes later, Davis knotted the score at 57-57 with another three-pointer and James Fisher Jr. (Philadelphia, Pa./Upper Darby) gave the Lions their first lead of the half as he followed with a triple during Brandywine's next possession.

Brandywine owned a seven-point edge with 5:28 to play following a Davis three, but Lehigh Valley netted eight of the game's next 10 points to grab a one-point lead.

Spencer put the Lions back in front by canning a jumper, but was answered by Joe Wiggins' basket on the other end. After Young made the score 81-78 with 1:24 to play, Spencer sank a bucket to pull Brandywine back within one.

Wiggins' basket made the score 83-80 with 17 seconds to go. After Fisher made one-of-two free throws, Young was fouled and sank a pair from the charity stripe with just three seconds left on the clock to ice the game.

Spencer tallied an 18-point, 16 rebound double-double, which included seven offensive boards, while Fisher led all scorers with 27 points. Davis knocked down five three-pointers and added 21 points, along with six rebounds.

Brandywine shot 37 percent (25-67) from the floor, but Lehigh Valley nailed 40 percent (28-70) of its shots and held a slim 46-44 edge on the boards.

Brandywine (0-4, 0-1) looks to bounce back Sunday when it hosts Penn State Wilkes Barre at 3:00 pm.