ALLENTOWN, Pa. – An eight-minute run completely changed the outcome of Friday's season opening game for the Gallaudet University men's basketball team. The Bison faced an 18-point deficit down 51-33 with 15 minutes and 30 seconds left in regulation but didn't cave against Wilkes University at the Scotty Wood tournament hosted by Muhlenberg College. Gallaudet went on an impressive 31-3 run, aided by seven 3-pointers, over eight minutes to take its first lead. The Bison wouldn't relinquish that lead for the remainder of the game as they won 74-66.

Gallaudet (1-0) advances to Saturday's 8 p.m. championship game of the tournament and will face the winner of Friday evening's game against Rosemont and the host Mules from Muhlenberg.

Senior Luther Weedon (Walkersville, Md.) came off the bench to help spark the Bison comeback in the second half. Weedon drained four 3-pointers and accounted for over half of the 31 points netted in the eight-minute span. He finished the game with 16 points to go with three rebounds and two steals.

Junior forward Layton Seeber (Champaign, Ill.) made a big splash in his Bison debut as he scored a game-high 24 points and added four assists and three blocks, both game high totals. Seeber netted 18 of his 24 points in the second half as he shot 6-for-11 from the floor and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.

Fellow junior Tony Tatum (Gardendale, Ala.) was the third Bison to reach double figures as he scored 10 first half points and finished the game with 16 and grabbed a team-high six rebounds and passed out three assists. Junior guard Brandon McMillan (Frederick, Md.) scored five points in the 31-point run and ended the game with nine in 27 minutes of action.

Kendall Hinze's 20 points and 12 rebounds paced Wilkes while guard Chris DeRojas made 13 points.

GU shot 53 percent from the field in the second half and finished with a 45.9 shooting percentage for the game. The Bison connected on 12-of-30 3-pointers (40 percent) as eight of those found the bottom of the net in the final 20 minutes of play. Wilkes shot 40.6 percent from the field but was held to 31.3 percent in the decisive second half.

The Bison scored 19 points off turnovers in the second half while Wilkes outscored GU 18-10 in the paint. Gallaudet received 21 points from its bench compared to 10 points, all in the first half, by Wilkes.