Brandywine struggled to make shots in its boys basketball game Tuesday against Mendon.

A scoring drought late in the third quarter into the fourth proved to be the most costly for the Bobcats, who ended up falling to the Hornets, 53-39, in non-conference action.

Brandywine, which fell to 1-8, took a 37-33 lead with :55 left in the third quarter after getting a rebound basket from Pierce Gleason.

But the Bobcats wouldn’t score again until 1:55 left in the game when Trent Moskwinski scored on a rebound basket. In between, Mendon went on a 16-0 run to take control of the game.

“We were missing shots,” Brandywine coach Nathan Knapp said. “I think we missed probably 13 layups tonight. “

Brandywine missed its first 11 shots in the fourth quarter and missed 12 of its 13 shots in the first quarter. For the game, the Bobcats shot 27-percent (16-of-59) from the field.

Brandywine’s shooting wasn’t much better from the free throw line as the Bobcats missed six of their seven free throws. Mendon held a big advantage at the line as the Hornets went 15-of-23 from the foul line.

In an effort to regroup his team, Knapp called three timeouts in the fourth quarter.

“I burned timeouts trying to get our kids to run our stuff,” Knapp said. “We weren’t hitting that much from the outside.”

Mendon’s 1-3-1 extended zone was the perfect defense against the inconsistent Brandywine offense.

Brandywine’s best quarter was the second as the Bobcats shot 50-percent (8-of-16) from the field and trailed only 27-22 at halftime.

“At halftime, I was satisfied with our kids,” Knapp said. “I thought they did a nice job of controlling the glass offensively and defensively. We were playing hard. “

That second quarter momentum for Brandywine carried into the third as the hosts went on a 15-6 run to take a 37-33 lead with :55 left in the third.  Three-pointers from Alex Ulrickson, Pierce Gleason and Austin Knapp sparked the Bobcats during that run.

“The effort is there,” Knapp said. “We’ve just got to find a way to play for 32 minutes,” Knapp said. “I felt we played hard for about 25 minutes.

Gleason scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Brandywine before fouling out with 2:52 left in the game.  Austin Knapp added seven points. Andrew Duckett pulled down seven rebounds and Brock Hartline grabbed six. Brandywine finished with a 36-29 rebounding advantage.

Zach Darmofal scored 12 points, while Joe Gales and Erik Batten each added 11 for Mendon, which improved to 9-1.

“We’ve got to find a way to close things out,” Nathan Knapp said. “The kids want to get better. We don’t like losing. We’re trying everything we can to get over the hump and we find ways to shoot ourselves in the foot.”

 

MENDON 53

Joe Gales 11, Zach Darmofal 12, Andy Brueck 6, Marcus Craft 7, Erik Batten 11, Logan Slaughter 2, Kaleb McCarroll 2, Derek Zagon 2, Robert Riley 0. TOTALS: 19 15-23 53

BRANDYWINE 39

Alex Ulrickson 6, Pierce Gleason 13, Brock Hartline 0, Michael Shelton 0, Courtlan Gordon 0, Austin Knapp 7, Andrew Duckett 5, Zach Schmidt 2, Trent Moskwinski 6.  TOTALS: 16 1-7 39

 

Mendon 12 27 35 53

Brandywine 4 22 37 39

3-point goals: Mendon (none), Brandywine 6 (Ulrickson 2, Gleason 2, Knapp, Duckett). Total fouls (fouled out): Mendon 15 (Brueck), Brandywine 24 (Gleason). Shooting: Mendon 19-of-50 for 38-percent, Brandywine 16-of-59 for 27-percent. Rebounding: Mendon 29 (Brueck and Craft 6), Brandywine 36 (Gleason 8). Turnovers: Mendon 11, Brandywine 21