WASHINGTON – A marquee win slipped through Gallaudet University's grasp here Tuesday night as the Bison dropped a 63-59 decision to Penn State Brandywine in a United East men's basketball contest in the Field House.

Gallaudet (2-18, 1-11 United East) erased a 16-point deficit and took a lead late before Penn St.-Brandywine (15-9, 10-2 United East), one of the top teams in the conference, scored a basket and several free throws to escape with its sixth straight win.

The Bison fell behind from the jump as the visiting Lions roared out to a 12-2 lead just five minutes into the game. Penn St.-Brandywine extended that margin to 16 points, 30-14, at the 5:20 mark in the first half. The Lions held a 36-27 advantage at the half.

GU slowly chipped away at the margin in the second half and took its first lead at the 12:28 mark on the fifth straight free throw made by sophomore guard Alex Ortman (Norway, Mich.). Ortman made a layup seconds later and fellow sophomore Jory Valencia (Riverside, Calif.) drained a 3-pointer at the 11:26 mark. Ortman made a jumper a minute later as GU held its largest lead, 48-42, and forced the stunned visitors to call a timeout.

From there Penn St.-Brandywine scored the next eight points as Gallaudet made three turnovers and missed one 3-pointer during a three-minute stretch. The Lions held the lead until the final two minutes of play.

Gallaudet was down 57-51 at the 4:06 mark before Valencia scored five straight points and sophomore forward Wyatt Carlson (Hubertus, Wis.) made a layup at the 1:49 mark to give the Bison their second lead, 58-57.

The two teams missed shots before Ja'bri White (nine points) made a layup with 39 seconds left in regulation to give the Lions the lead for good.

Ortman led the Bison with 20 points as he made 7 of 14 shots from the floor to go with five rebounds, two assists and one steal. Valencia was second on the team with 16 points, seven assists and three boards. Carlson had seven points and seven rebounds while senior guard Bruce Brewer Jr. (Santa Fe, N.M.) finished with a season best eight points, which included two 3-pointers.

The Lions were led by sophomore guard Corwin Holland II and his 16 points with 12 coming from four 3-pointers. Senior forward Jaden Fogg and junior forward Jack Swider chipped in 12 points each.

The two teams met earlier this season in a non-conference contest that Penn St.-Brandywine won, 70-48, on its home court.

BISON TRACKS

• Ortman has scored 20 or more points in a game on nine different occasions
• Valencia has passed out seven or more assists in 11 games this season
• The 59 points scored is the lowest for GU in the past nine games
• The 11 steals made by Gallaudet are the second most in a game this season
• GU scored 34 points in the paint
• Penn St.-Brandywine held a 22-10 edge on second chance points
• The loss officially eliminated Gallaudet from the United East postseason picture

BLACK HISTORY MONTH
The Gallaudet University Athletics Department and the basketball programs in conjunction with The Center for Black Deaf Studies celebrated Black History Month in the Field House on Tuesday evening and paid tribute to GU's first black men's basketball head coach Hubert Anderson Jr. (1976-80). Information and videos were shown on the video board during the pregame, timeouts and halftime of both contests. Anderson Jr. compiled a 22-69 record while guiding the Bison for four seasons. Coach Anderson had back-to-back seven-win seasons in 1976-77 and 1977-78.

UP NEXT
Gallaudet will conclude the season this Saturday, Feb. 14, at 1 p.m. in the Field House against Penn College (4-19, 3-9 United East) on Senior Day.