READING, Pa. - Strong second-half play continued for the Gallaudet University men's basketball here Saturday against Penn St.-Berks in a United East Conference game.

Gallaudet (1-16, 0-8 United East) scored a season best 52 points in a half during the final 20 minutes of play. It wasn't enough to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit, 34-24, as the host Nittany Lions went on to win 84-76.

During the 52-point run in the second half, GU head coach Kevin Kovacs turned to senior guard Preston Kelly (Indianapolis, Ind.), who ended up scoring 42 percent of the second-half points.

Kovacs let Kelly cook during the final eight minutes of play as Kelly drained a 3-pointer to cut the Penn St.-Berks lead to 11 points, 62-51. Kelly recorded 18 of his second-half 22 points during this stretch and that includes going to the bench for over a minute. Kelly was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, 1-for-3 from 3-point range and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line and grabbed two rebounds, two assists and made two turnovers. Kelly scored 18 of the 25 Gallaudet points during the course of the last eight minutes of play. Overall, as a team, Gallaudet shot 62 percent from the field (20-for-32) in the second half.

This was the fourth straight game that Gallaudet scored more points in the second half than the first half. 

In the end, Kelly finished with a season- and game-high total of 27 points as he made 9 of 10 shots from two-point range and went 1-for-6 from 3-point range. He ripped down nine rebounds and passed out a game-high six assists.

Junior guard Rory Lewis (Frederick, Md.) finished with 18 points and sophomore forward Brandon Chung (Kahului, Hawaii) recorded 13 points. Sophomore forward Blessed Mbogo (Silver Spring, Md.) scored nine points off the bench. 

Penn St.-Berks (5-9, 3-4 United East) had four starters finish in double figures led by Josh Gardner with 18 points. 

BISON TRACKS

• Gallaudet scored 34 points in the paint 
• The Bison got out rebounded 41-31
• GU is 17-10 vs. Penn St.-Berks since 2010

UP NEXT
Gallaudet will complete the home-and-home series with Penn St.-Berks this Friday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m. in the Field House. The Bison are 10-3 in the Field House against Berks.