PHOENIXVILLE, PA – The Valley Forge Men's Basketball team hosted the Vaughn College Warriors on Friday, January 23^rd.  After a lot of back and forth play in the first half, the Patriots were able to pull away for victory, 94-73. 

Recently, the Patriots have shown a lot of signs of having a balanced attack.  This continued against the Warriors as ten different players found the bottom of the net, with five scoring double-digits.  Both teams came out of the gate scoring at will.  After just six minutes of action, the score was already 20-20.  As a few minutes went by, the Warriors managed to build a five point lead (31-26) with 9:00 remaining.  Then, Jean LeBlanc helped take the Patriots on a 12-2 scoring run, capped off by a 3-pointer from Jerome Staley.  Valley Forge held a 38-33 lead with 6:00 remaining in the opening half. 

One of the stories in the first half was the bench play from the Patriots.  Staley, and teammate Jonathan Kinyanjui, each knocked in a pair of 3-pointers as the bench combined to score 27 first half points.  Devin Williams and Joseph Taylor combined to hit back-to-back 3-pointers to close out the half and give the Patriots a 48-41 advantage at the break.  Valley Forge was 8-14 from long range in the first and had 16 assists!

The Patriots continued their hot shooting into the second, but knew they needed to clamp down on defense.  Warriors' Willis Prezzy did his best to keep it close, scoring a team-high 17 points, but the Patriots' depth proved to be too much.  Only leading 57-55 with 16:13 to play, Kevin Mack scored seven straight points, capped off by another Kinyanjui 3-pointer. The Patriots took a ten point lead (67-57).  They kept their foot on the gas pedal and continued to increase their margin after back-to-back dunks from Taylor.  It was too much for the Warriors to overcome and the Patriots pulled away for the win, 94-73. 

Mack filled the stat-sheet with a game-high 17 points, while also collecting 9 rebounds and 5 assists.  Kinyanjui was a big lift off the bench scoring 13 points, including 3-5 from 3-point range.  LeBlanc also had 13 points, and Thorne McIntosh chipped in 11 of his own with 7 rebounds.  Taylor, 10 points, rounded out the double digit scoring for the Patriots.

Depth is proving to be a pivotal factor for this young Patriots team as the bench contributed 42 points in the win.  The team will look to continue their momentum against a tough New Jersey City University team that comes into The Pit on Monday night @ 7PM!

Go Patriots!