WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Morrisville took charge after a close contest in the opening few minutes of the game to hand Penn College a 74-58 setback in a North Eastern Athletic Conference men's basketball game Saturday. The Mustangs improved to 4-8 NEAC, 7-12 overall, while the Wildcats fell to 2-10, 3-16.

Thomas Ross and Kevin Laurence-El paced Penn College with 12 points each, while James Boylan finished with 11. Ross also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

Joe Hulbert scored a game-high 20 points for Morrisville.

The opening six minutes of the game featured eight lead changes and three ties, with the final deadlock occurring at 14:02 knotted at 12-12. The Mustangs quickly took a three point lead before Nathaniel Brown cut it to one, 15-14, on a layup with 11:46 left before halftime. Morrisville answered with a 7-0 run to lead 22-14, before taking its largest lead, 30-16, with 4:53 left before the break. The Mustangs led 39-28 at halftime.

Penn College closed the cap to seven points on three separate occasions in the second half but couldn't get any closer. A Boylan layup at 18:25 made 39-32, a Laurence-El three put the Wildcats within seven, 52-45, with 12:05 left and Laurence-El's layup a few seconds later kept it a seven-point game. Morrisville led by as many as 21 in the final 12 minutes of the game.

Penn College returns to action Sunday, 2 p.m., hosting Cazenovia.