DELAWARE, OHIO -- Senior wing Claude Gray scored 6 points and sophomore guard Seth Clark added 5 more during a 15-0 run that broke the game open as the 10th-ranked Battling Bishops defeated Pitt-Greensburg in a first-round matchup of the NCAA Division III tournament on Friday at Branch Rickey Arena.

The win was the 284th at Ohio Wesleyan for Battling Bishop head coach Mike DeWitt, making him the winningest men's basketball coach in Ohio Wesleyan history.

Ohio Wesleyan will play Lynchburg in a second-round game at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Branch Rickey Arena.  The winner of that game will advance to a sectional semifinal game to be played March 11 on the campus of one of the participating institutions.

Gray buried a 3-pointer on the first possession of the game and junior post Ben Simpson followed with a fast-break lay-in off a steal by senior post Matt Jeske.  Jeske and Gray each hit a pair of free throws before Clark knocked down a 3-pointer for a 12-2 Ohio Wesleyan lead with 17:33 left in the first half.

The Bobcats rallied with 3-pointers by Rocco Contristano, Jerell Figueroa, and Mike Connelly, then got a lay-in and a 3-point play by Connelly to pull within 17-16.

Ohio Wesleyan scored the next 8 points, with Simpson hitting a lay-in and a 3-point play and sophomore wing Will Orr adding a 3-pointer, but Pitt-Greensburg rallied again, closing to within 27-25 with the help of a pair of Kyle Bondi lay-ins and another Contristano 3-pointer.

Pitt-Greensburg was within 42-35 with less than 5 minutes to play in the first half when the Bishops took off on the 15-0 run.  Gray drilled a 3-pointer to kick off the scoring spree, and after a Jeske lay-in, Gray pulled up in transition and drained another 3-pointer.  Clark followed with a lay-in and a 3-pointer, and senior wing Zak Davis added a lay-in that increased the Bishop lead to 57-35 with 1:48 to play in the half.

Connelly hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the second half, bringing the Bobcats within 19 points, but that was as close as the visitors would come.

Clark led the Bishops with 22 points, while Simpson followed with 18 points.  Jeske scored 13 points and grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds, Gray also finished with 13 points, and sophomore guard Nate Axelrod had 12 points and led the Bishops with 7 assists.

Connelly scored a team-best 20 points for Pitt-Greensburg.