WASHINGTON – The Gallaudet University men's basketball team played even with Penn College during the second half of Friday night's United East Conference game in the Field House but the first half deficit was too much to overcome as the Bison lost 75-58.
 
Gallaudet (1-19, 0-11 United East) doubled its made field goals in the second half as the buff and blue made 17 shots from the field, including two 3-pointers, as the Bison matched Penn College (9-11, 4-7 United East) with 38 points scored.
 
The Bison scored the first basket of the game before the Wildcats went on a 15-0 run in a six-minute span to take a 15-2 lead. Penn College later extended that lead to 20 points and took a 37-20 into halftime.
 
Gallaudet trimmed the Penn College lead to 15 points to begin the final 20 minutes of play but the Wildcats built their lead up to 31 points midway through the second half.
 
The Bison scored 40 points in the paint and tallied 25 second-chance points off 21 offensive rebounds but the GU went 3-for-31 from 3-point range (9.7 percent), a season low, in the loss.
 
Gallaudet received 33 points from its bench led by sophomore forward Blessed Mbogo (Silver Spring, Md.), who scored 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds, made three blocks and one steal. Sophomore center Alex Antsiferov (North Charleston, S.C.) recorded 10 points, seven boards and two blocks. Freshman guard Bruce Brewer Jr. (Santa Fe, N.M.) netted a career best eight points in 22 minutes of play.
 
Penn College was led by three players in double figures highlighted by guard Gavin Barrett's 17-point game as he passed out a game-high eight assists.
 
UP NEXT
GU is back in action tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 4) against Penn St.-Abington (15-6, 9-3 United East) at 3 p.m. in the Field House.