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ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon men's basketball team broke open a close game with a 56-28 second-half edge and rolled to a 91-60 victory against Cheyney Friday night in the squad's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) home opener at the Hammermill Center.
Friday's contest featured eight lead changes and six ties in the first half, but it was all Gannon in the final 20 minutes. The 56 points were the program's most in a second half since producing the same amount during a 90-53 victory against Lock Haven on January 31, 2009. Tied at 39, the Golden Knights rattled off 13 consecutive points in the span of two minutes and 32 seconds.
Tanner Furno (Columbus, Ohio/Whetstone) scored on back-to-back lay-ups, before
Darrell Blanton (Cleveland, Ohio/Euclid) got the Gannon faithful on its feet with a monster slam.
Oscar Macias (Cicero, Ill./Morton) then capped the stretch with a three-pointer and a jumper from the left baseline, giving the Golden Knights a 52-39 advantage with 14:14 left in regulation.
Cheyney stopped the scoring for a brief moment with two free throws, but Gannon answered with nine more points. Blanton netted seven of those points. Furno's tip-in and Blanton's jumper gave the Golden Knights a commanding 61-41 edge with 12:36 showing on the clock.
In all, it was a 20-1 Gannon run that lasted four minutes and 10 seconds. The Golden Knights held the visitors without a field goal for six minutes and 23 seconds until Brandon Baylor's three-pointer at the 11:13 mark.
Another 9-0 run midway through the second half extended the Gannon lead to 29 points. Blanton recorded the first three buckets with two lay-ups and another strong dunk.
Brandon Belt's (Odenton, Md./Arundel) lay-in gave the Golden Knights a 78-49 lead with 5:54 remaining.
Alvin Tucker's (Upper Marlboro, Md./Georgetown Prep) three-point play with 39 seconds left gave Gannon its largest lead of the evening at 91-60 and accounted for the final score.
Gannon seemed to take control early, scoring the first eight points of the game. Macias converted a lay-up three seconds into the contest.
Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md./Thomas Stone),
Dmitry Martynenko (Moscow, Russia/41) and
Adam Blazek (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) followed with two points each.
The Gannon lead stood at 10-1, before Cheyney finally recorded its first field goal 5:37 into the game. The Wolves regrouped with seven consecutive points to cut the deficit to 10-8 with 12:48 left in the first half. With the exception of a 35-30 Gannon lead for 32 seconds, neither team was able to produce a lead larger than four points for the remainder of the first half.
Blanton led all scorers with 25 points, tying a season-high set during his last game against West Chester. The junior forward was 11-of-16 from the field while adding six rebounds and five assists.
Macias followed with 19 points, falling one point shy of his season-high and extending his streak of double-digit performances to four. Battle and Belt chipped in 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Gannon shot 58.7 percent (37-63) from the field, including a stunning 71 percent (22-31) in the second half. The Golden Knights shot 30 percent (3-10) from three-point range and 73.7 percent (14-19) from the free throw line.
Jerrod Johnson headlined the Cheyney attack with 13 points. Baylor and Jason Sabb added 12 points each. Rashaad Slappy pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds off the bench.
Cheyney shot 35.8 percent (19-53) from the floor, 27.3 percent (6-22) from behind the arc and 76.2 percent (16-21) from the charity stripe.
Gannon improved to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the PSAC with Friday's victory. Cheyney dropped to 2-6 overall and 1-4 in conference play. The Golden Knights complete their fourth consecutive back-to-back schedule Saturday, December 10 against Shippensburg at the Hammermill Center. A special tip time is scheduled for 4 p.m.
