Men’s Basketball Edged by Moravian College, 69-67

READING, Pa. – Elms College senior guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) scored a game-high 24 points but Moravian College received a 17-point effort from DJ Strayhorn (Swiftwater, Pa.) and the Greyhounds orchestrated a 15-0 run early in the second half to help clinch a thrilling 69-67 victory in Friday evening's 2012-13 men's basketball season-opener in the Albright Wyndham-Reading Tip-Off Tournament hosted by Albright College.

With the loss, Elms begins its season 0-1 and will play the loser of host Albright and Immaculata University on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 6:00 p.m.

Trailing 68-65 with 45 seconds left, Blazers' senior forward Darius Griffin (Winter Haven, Fla.) delivered a pair of free throws to pull Elms to within one at 68-67, but Moravian's Cameron Cullen (East Islip, N.Y.) hit the front end of two free throws to give the Greyhounds a slim 69-67 lead. With one second on the clock Elms' senior guard Walter Mfuko (Amherst, Mass.) launched a desperation three-pointer but did not connect as Moravian held on for a thrilling 69-67 victory.

French was 9 of 22 from the floor including 3 of 7 from long distance. Senior forwards David McDaniel (Plainfield, N.J.) and Griffin, and sophomore guard Piere Simpson (East Hartford, Conn.) chipped in eight points apiece, while McDaniel hauled in a team-high 10 rebounds.

Moravian, which converted its shots at a 41.4-percent clip, were led by Strayhorn's 17-point, eight rebound effort, and a double-double performance from Cullen who netted 15 points and grabbed a game-high 12 boards.

In the opening 20 minutes, Elms shot 33.3-percent from the field and 87.5-percent from the free throw line highlighted by a 4 for 4 effort from the stripe by McDaniel.  McDaniel was one of four Blazers' players to score six points in the first half alongside French, senior center Carson Miller (New Oxford, Pa.) and Simpson.

Trailing 22-19 thanks to back-to-back buckets from Moravian's Garrett Johnson (Allentown, Pa.) and one from Kenny Gula (Quakertown, Pa.), Elms rallied to score the next seven points sparked by a swish from beyond the arc by Mfuko and baskets by senior guard James Black (Baltimore, Md.) and French to give the Blazers a 26-22 edge with 5:52 to play.

An Aaron Thieme (Bethlehem, Pa.) drilled a jumper with 37 seconds left to give the Greyhounds a 35-32 lead, but a layup by McDaniel and a Simpson slash to the hoop as time expired allowed Elms to take a 36-35 lead into intermission.

In the second half, French delivered a three-pointer to give the Blazers a 39-35 lead, but Moravian answered with a 15-0 run to lift the Greyhounds to a 50-39 advantage. The run was powered by baskets from five different players and highlighted by a triple from Jarrod Dilts (Bethlehem, Pa.) with 13:29 to play in the game and capped by a Thieme layup at the 12:40 mark.

A pair of French free throws halted Moravian's run and started a 9-3 run for the Blazers that saw French score seven of the nine points including his second three-pointer of the game to pull Elms to within four at 53-48 with 8:19 to play.

Trailing 64-49 with 2:43 left, the Blazers' freshman guard Jerry Buchanon (Windsor, Conn.) scored the first points of his collegiate career and French scored underneath to pull Elms to within three at 64-63 with 2:11 to play. The Greyhounds then used four made foul shots from Cullen to push the lead back to five (68-63) before two Simpson free throws set the score at 68-65 with 45 seconds left in the contest.