CHESTER, Pa. – The Widener University men's basketball team used a big second half run and had its lowest turnover total in 10 years to come away with an 82-75 victory against the No. 24 University of Scranton Royals on Friday night.
 
Widener was down early in the first half as fouls plagued the Pride leading to a 24-13 edge for the Royals with 8:38 to go in the frame. The Blue and Gold went on a quick 9-2 run slicing the lead to four, but never seemed to be able to get below that margin during a five minute stretch. Widener broke through with a 9-4 spurt, capped by a Jair Williams jumper to claw to within a point before going into halftime down 37-34.
 
In the second half, the Pride scored nine of the first 13 points to take a brief 43-41 lead three-and-a-half minutes in before a free throw from Kyle DeVerna and back-to-back three-pointers from Ethan Danzig put the visitors back up by five. Undaunted, Widener responded with a 22-5 run, bookended by Elijah Boyd to take a 65-53 lead with 8:37 to go. The Blue and Gold maintained the double-digit advantage until the late stages of the half when Scranton made a run, but the Pride was able to withstand the spurt and secure the victory.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Tyler Drews led all scorers with a career-high 29 points. He also had six rebounds and four assists while not committing a turnover in 38 minutes.
• Boyd and Ryan McMahon also scored in double-figures with 13 and 11 respectively, pulling in a team-leading seven rebounds apiece.
• The Pride shot 53.6 percent (30-of-56) from the floor in the game including 66.7 percent (16-of-24) in the second half. It is the best shooting performance for the team since connecting on 54.0 percent of its shots against Hood on Feb. 11, 2017.
• Widener turned the ball over just six times in the game, its lowest total since surrendering the ball the same number of times against King's on March 1, 2007.

 
FIRST HALF NOTES

• The Royals jumped out early as after Widener scored the first basket of the game, Scranton connected on eight of its first nine shots to build a 24-13 lead midway through the first half.
• Back-to-back baskets by Drews held the Pride quickly slice the lead to 26-22 at the 6:57 mark.
• The squads traded baskets until a Williams jumper make it 35-34 with 53 seconds left in the frame.
• Widener took advantage of Scranton's mistakes in the opening 20 minutes, scoring 11 points off seven Royals's turnovers while committing just two miscues of its own.

 
SECOND HALF NOTES

• The Pride came out on fire, going both 3-for-4 from the field and from the line to erase the deficit and take a two point lead.
• After a quick 7-0 spurt by Scranton, the Blue and Gold took command of the game, using a 22-5 run that spanned 6:16. Widener went 8-for-10 from the floor during the stretch. Drews scored eight points while Boyd netted seven.
• The Pride took its largest lead of the night on a Nick Jackson free throw to make it 70-57 with just under five minutes left.
• Drews scored 20 of his points after intermission.
• As a team, Widener shot 16-for-24 (66.7 percent) in the second stanza.

 
UP NEXT
The Pride is off until Sunday, Nov. 26 when it travels to Ursinus for a non-conference contest at 4:00 p.m.