CHESTER, PA. – Juniors Brian Manning (Elmira/Southside) and Jesse Winter (Rockville Centre/South Side) each scored 18 points as Cortland defeated Delaware Valley College, 71-58, in the opening round of the Widener University Tip-Off Classic.
Cortland (2-0) will face Widener in the championship game Saturday at 3 p.m., while Delaware Valley (0-2), last year's Freedom Conference champion, will play Penn St. Mt. Alto in the third-place game at 1 p.m. Widener routed Penn St. Mt. Alto, 115-47, in Friday's first contest.
Manning hit 4-of-7 three-pointers and led the Red Dragons with 12 rebounds. Winter connected on 3-of-7 shots from three-point range. Junior Harrison Hefele (Greenlawn/Friends Academy) finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists. He was a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the three-point arc.
Sophomore Kevin McMahon (Hoosick Falls) also totaled 11 points and pulled down six rebounds, while junior Jeremy Smith (Bronx/Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy) scored nine points and dished out four assists.
Jeremy Beckett (Reading, PA/Holy Name) led Delaware Valley with 22 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three blocks and five steals. Nathan Bollinger (Hellam, PA/Eastern York) and Jay Donovan (Audobon, PA/Archbishop John Carroll) scored 12 points each.
Cortland shot 47 percent from the floor, including 48 percent (10-of-21) from the three-point line. The Aggies were limited to 31 percent shooting overall and 21 percent (4-of-19) from three-point territory.
The Red Dragons used a 14-2 run to change a 13-10 deficit with 9:48 left in the first half to a 24-15 lead. Manning scored the first eight points of that stretch, six on three-pointes, and Hefele capped the run with two treys.
Cortland led by as many as 12 points in the first half and 36-28 at halftime. The Aggies closed to within 41-38 on a Donovan free throw with 14:46 left in the game, but Cortland pushed the margin back to 10 at 53-43 with 10:44 remaining after another Manning three-pointer. The Red Dragons made 12-of-15 foul shots over the final 2:40 to preserve the victory.