Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS
Mount Union’s Jayvien Brumbaugh shoots over top of Penns Valley’s Dakota Bradzina during the Trojans’ 51-36 non-conference victory over the Rams on Wednesday night at Mount Union High School.

MOUNT UNION — The Mount Union offense took a little bit to hit its full stride on Wednesday afternoon, but once it did it put on a clinic in a 51-36 victory over non-conference foe Penns Valley at Mount Union High School.

The Trojans (7-4) held a one-point lead after the first quarter before carrying a 7-to-12-point advantage the rest of the way as Devin Delo and Jayvien Brumbaugh powered the Trojans with 18 points apiece as the Mount Union offense drilled nine 3-pointers in the victory.

Penns Valley received a valiant effort from Zach Braucht, who scored a game-high 23 points including 11 in the third quarter to help the Rams pull back within four points, but Lucas Barksdale and other Trojans helped limit Braucht to just two points from the field in the final frame.

Mount Union closed the game on a 19-8 run with Brumbaugh scoring 12 of his points in the final frame to close out the victory. Brumbaugh nailed a pair of threes and drove into the lane with ease as the Rams failed to find an answer for him and Delo with their zone defense.

“The biggest thing was that we got them to come out of the zone here and there — they had to come out and chase,” Mount Union coach Scott McClain said. “You’re not going to score very many points against them because they are really good defensively. The key is to get up early and try to make them play your way. I think we did that for the majority of the game tonight.”

Braucht drilled a 3-pointer and got a steal and a bucket on the fast break, cutting the Trojans advantage to just four in the final minute of the third after the Trojans had led by as much as 12-points in the quarter.

While Braucht single-handedly willed the Rams back into the game in the third, McClain was pleased with how his defense neutralized the 6-foot-4, 200-pounder in the fourth quarter.

“He is ridiculous. We threw everything we could at him, and he was killing us, and I knew that coming in,” McClain said. “They are very disciplined, and they play great defense. I felt like if we could keep it to a one-possession game all night, that we would have a shot. Really tonight, the kids hit some big shots and that I was really impressed with.”

The Trojans’ effort on the glass helped keep the game close until the deciding run, during which Mount Union’s key shooters got going in the fourth.

Mount Union pulled in 19 boards despite facing a team that had a slight height advantage on the floor. Dayvon Wilson led the Trojans with seven rebounds to help the Mount Union cause.

Second-chance buckets started to hurt Penns Valley down the stretch as well, a key that McClain noted.

“That was the big key, especially when we weren’t hitting shots, we were still crashing the boards and getting second shots,” McClain said. “That’s the only way that you are going to beat a zone like theirs. I don’t want to see a zone like that again until we get to Districts. We played a wire-to-wire pretty good game. There’s still a lot of things to clean up.”

Brumbaugh hit a couple timely shots to help slow Penns Valley late in the fourth as it tried to cut into the Trojans lead, as multiple shots helped keep the Rams at arm’s length. Brumbaugh hit a driving layup with just under two minutes to stretch the lead back to 12 before hitting a 3-pointer on a floater that he threw up to try and get a foul call after absorbing contact in the final minutes.

The Trojans defense also stepped up to allow just eight fourth-quarter points while the offense worked methodically to find a good shot in the frame and avoided turnovers or forcing things.

“We’ve got some really good shooters and we played hard defensively,” McClain said. “Playing that hard defensively I didn’t know that our legs were going to be there all night. We hit some big ones and (Brumbaugh) hit a set three and a layup that was huge and gave us some breathing room. That’s what you have to do with these guys because if you let them get to where they can play their pace, they can do some damage.”

With the victory, the Trojans have won five of their last six games and McClain believes that the win is one that his team can build on moving forward.

Mount Union hosts Moshannon Valley on Friday.

“It’s a win that we can build on and I didn’t think that it would play out like that,” McClain said. “I thought that it was going to come down to the last second. I’d like to have done a couple things differently in the last weeks, but If we can keep building on this, I think that things look good.”

Mount Union 51, Penns Valley 36

MOUNT UNION

Devin Delo 6 2-2 18, Jayvien Brumbaugh 7 0-1 18, Dayvon Wilson 3 0-0 9, Lucas Barksdale 2 0-0 4, Bryce Danish 1 0-0 2, Andrew Cuff 0 2-2 2. Totals: 19 4-5 — 51.

3-point goals: Delo 4, Brumbaugh 4, Wilson.

PENNS VALLEY

Zach Braucht 8 4-4 23, Kyle Niewinski 2 3-4 7, Maclain Wilson 2 0-0 4, Aidan Culver 1 0-0 2. Totals: 13 7-8 — 36.

3-point goals: Braucht 3.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

MU 7-14-11-19 — 51

PV 6-10-12-8 — 36