York Edges Brandywine In PSUAC Opener

MEDIA, Pa. -- Defending Penn State University Athletic Conference champion Penn State York held off a challenge from Penn State Brandywine in a rematch of last year's league title game and defeated the Lions 78-74 during the first PSUAC contest of the season for each team on Tuesday night.

The game was tightly contested throughout as it featured five ties and five lead changes and neither team led by more than eight points.

Brandywine scored 14 of the final 21 points of the first half to grab a 40-39 edge at the break and pushed its lead to six points following a three-pointer from Bryce Barrouk (Glen Mills, Pa./Rustin) at the 16:01 mark of the second half.

After another basket from Barrouk 74 seconds later, York errupted for 14-straight points, building its largest lead of the night at 59-51 with 9:28 to go. The Lions answered York's run by scoring the next seven points with five coming from Barrouk, plus a layup from Jordan Graves (Media, Pa./Strath Haven), to climb within one.

Barrouk's triple with 5:28 on the clock knotted the count at 63-63, but York scored nine of the next 11 points to grab a 72-65 edge.

Two free throws from Barrouk followed by a Colin Hockenbrock (Wilmington, Del./St. Elizabeth) basket 33 seconds later brought Brandywine within three. After Jon Ware sank a layup for the visitors, Barrouk canned his fourth three-pointer of the second half, slicing the deficit to two.

The teams traded free throws over the next 20 seconds, making the count 76-74, but York iced the game away as Deriq Brown and John John Gillespie knocked down free throws during the final eight seconds.

Barrouk scored 24 of his game-high 31 points during the second half and pulled down 12 rebounds for his second double-double in three games this season. Graves and Hockenbrock both tallied 13 points, while Johnta Dunson (Philadelphia, Pa./Freire Charter) added 10 points. Graves also collected four steals and Devon Jones (Philadelphia, Pa./Central) chipped in with six points and a team-best six assists. Of Brandywine's 74 points, 73 came from its starting five.

Brandywine (1-2, 0-1 PSUAC) looks to bounce back on Thursday at Cairn beginning at 7:00 PM.