WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Cazenovia used a late second half rally to knocked off Penn College, 88-81, in a North Eastern Athletic Conference men's basketball game Saturday. Penn College fell to 2-9 overall, 0-2 NEAC, while Cazenovia improved to 3-8, 1-1.

How it Happened: Following four deadlocks in the opening eight minutes, Cazenovia took a 12 point, 37-25, lead with 7:11 left in the first half. Penn College responded with a 19-8 run to end the half, trailing by just one, 45-44.

After three lead changes to start the second half, Penn College gained separation and led by six, 60-54, on Damon Kreider's layup with 12:36 remaining in the game. Penn College took its largest lead, 72-61, on a three from Kreider with 7:51 on the clock, but Caz battled back with a 16-5 spurt to even the game at 77 with 3:11 left in the game. A Ben Sosa free throw tied the game for the final time, 81-81, with 2:14 left and Cazenovia iced the game going 5 of 6 from the line.

Inside the Box: Sosa scored a game-high 24 points, on 7 of 12, including 4 of 6 from behind the arc. He also grabbed eight rebounds. Elijah Vazquez finished with 15 and Carson Garvis added 14 for Penn College. Vazquez dished out 10 assists and grabbed seven rebounds.

Five players reached double figures for Cazenovia, led by Majesty Wilder's 23 points.

Outside the Box: "I liked our resilience in the first half.  I thought our players showed great poise and grit down 11 points to come back and go into halftime only down 1 point," Penn College coach Geoff Hensley said. "It was nice to see the guys coming together and fighting through adversity.  I felt our effort was great throughout most of the second half, which helped us get up with 10 minutes left.  We, as a team, need to do a better job closing games.  We played a fantastic game for 36 minutes, but we must be able to stay focused and disciplined down the stretch.  Statistically speaking, we had a great assist to turnover ratio (20:13) and we won the rebounding battle.  We were just one shot away from having a different outcome.    

"Sosa gave us some great minutes being an offensive force from inside and outside, while Vazquez showed his playmaking ability by dishing out 10 assists.  It wasn't our best shooting night, and that will happen.  When that happens, we need to be able to rely on our defensive effort to finish these games.  We will learn from this and we look forward to a quick turnaround tomorrow."

Milestone Alert: Sosa is two points shy of reaching 1,000 career points.
 
Up Next: Penn College returns to action Sunday, 12 p.m., hosting Morrisville.