PHOENIXVILLE, PA- The men's basketball team hosted the Bryn Athyn College Lions, Saturday, January 25.  The Patriots displayed a late second half run to ultimately outlast the visitors, 97-83! 

The Patriots recorded the first basket of the game, but it appeared that the men's energy and drive was at a record low.  Seizing the opportunity to play off the Patriots flat momentum, the Lions went on a 7-0 run to overtake the host school and control the first half.  The Patriots' defense was outplayed by the relentless offensive takes by the Lions, and trailed them by 10, 41-51, going into the break.

Into the second half the Lions continued to dominate on the floor, extending their lead to 16-points, 65-49, with 16:01 on the clock.  Looking to put an end to the run, the Patriots bench called a quick time out, and quickly refocused the men, reminding them of the core of how Patriots basketball should look.  And it worked.  As the clock started to count down, so did the Lions' lead.  High pressure defense scrambled the Lion's ability to create open shot and turned the offensive tables in favor of the Patriots.  At 7:30 the Patriots took the lead for the first time since the very start of the game.  Playing off the sound of the crowd, the Patriots took the momentum and used their signature defense to deny the Lions the easy basket. The Patriots continued to extent their lead, making shot after shot from every point, to go up by 16 by the time buzzer sounded.  The Patriots shot 72% from the floor and 60% from beyond the arc in the second half compared to the first half when they shot just 42%.  The Lions' were held to just shooting 52% from the paint and 33% from the three-point line.

"Our second half defense performance was great.  We challenge the team that our defense needs to be our true identity and our backbone.  It would be the difference in weathering the offense storm that Bryn Athyn was providing in the first half.  Our guys accepted the challenge and our pressure became the difference and took them off their offensive spots to shoot the three.  As a team, we need to be committed to our defense for 40 minutes consistently.  We are allowing our opponents to be comfortable on the offensive end way too much.  Pressure is designed to make people feel uncomfortable.  We still haven't fully imposed our will on our opponents at the beginning of the game, which has forced us to react after getting hit.  We need to be the aggressors from the tip and force our opponents to react." Discussed Head Coach Jon Mack after the game.

In addition to an exciting comeback victory, the Patriots honored four year senior Lance Harris for recording his 1,000^th point earlier this season at the start of the game.  Harris recorded 25 points, nine rebounds and five assists against the Lions.

Jean LeBlanc trailed Harris, listing 24 points and three steals.  Kevin Mack also notched double-digit points in the game, added 20 to the score in addition to five assists and five rebounds.

The Patriots travel for their next match-up at Berkley College (NJ), Tuesday, January 28.  The game is set to begin at 8 pm.

Go Patriots!