The Patriots pull away in the second half to down Drexel 71-47

Junior Mike Morrison goes up for the dunk on a feed from Andre Cornelius in the first half to spark a Patriots run en route to their 24-point victory Wednesday night in the Patriot Center. (John Powell)

The Patriots (13-5) maintained their unblemished home record with a decisive victory over conference foe, the Drexel Dragons (11-6), 71-47, to improve to 5-2 in conference play.

Despite the large margin of victory, it was a sluggish start for both squads. The score was just 2-2 nearly five minutes into the action in a defensive struggle dominated by turnovers. The Patriots were able to force four early turnovers by the Dragons, but were unable to capitalize on their opportunities.

Sophomore Luke Hancock carried the team early, scoring nine of the teams’ first 11 points. His energy sparked the Patriots and ignited a run halfway through the first half, giving his team a 21-13 lead.

“My teammates have confidence in me and give me the ball, and continue to run plays where I can penetrate or I can cut and get the ball in the post,” Hancock said.

The Dragons went on a run of their own, however, cutting the lead down to four on several occurrences. Junior Andre Cornelius halted the spurt by knocking down a key three-pointer. The subsequent play, Cornelius led a fast break off of a steal and threw an alley-oop to junior Mike Morrison, who threw down a momentum changing dunk.

The Patriots entered the locker room at the break with a 37-30 lead.

“I thought the first half was a very good example of both teams playing very hard defensively,” Head Coach Jim Larranaga said. “And when we got into the locker room at halftime I was very pleased with our effort.”

The Dragons were unable to hang around for long though, as the Patriots came out hot to open the second half. Just three minutes into the period, the lead spread to 15 points.

“When we play with intensity and we really work hard on defense, you saw what we can do, especially against a really good team like Drexel,” Hancock said.

The Patriots’ aggressive play forced the opposition into serious foul trouble down the stretch. Three Dragons fouled out of the contest, including their leading scorer Chris Fouch, and two others ended the game with four fouls. The Patriots went 29-38 from the charity stripe, making more free throws than the Dragons attempted.

“Our whole intentions were to attack their defense,” Larranaga said. “Their such a physical team that we wanted to put ourselves in a position that we’re either going to score or you’re going to foul us.”

Hancock finished the game with a team-leading 16 points. He also led the team in rebounds, nine, assists, four, and blocks, three, in a true all-around performance.

“I think everybody came out with the mindset that this is a huge game for us that we really needed to win,” Hancock said.

Senior guard Cam Long added 14 points and seven rebounds to the effort. Junior Ryan Pearson and Cornelius rounded out the double-figure scorers for the Patriots with 12 and 10 respectively.

The Patriots not only out-rebounded Drexel, a team known for its prowess on the boards, but they held the Dragons to just 18.5 percent shooting from the field in the second half, and 32 percent for the game. The Dragons went 1-11 from beyond the arc and only shot 52 percent from the free-throw line.

“In the second half, we didn’t change anything, but certainly the ability to stay focused for a very long period of time, no matter how long their possession lasted, and we were still locked in and were contesting the shot,” Larranaga said.

Larranaga’s crew returns to action Saturday on the road against rival JMU at 11 a.m.