For the second time in three days, Drew men's basketball shook loose the shackles of the past to record an impressive road victory.  After defeating Montclair State for the first time since 1945 on Wednesday night, the Rangers held off Moravian to record their first victory at the Greyhounds home since 1998, 54-52, in Bethlehem, Pa.  Joe Horvath's career high 27 points gave Drew four wins in five games and just its second three-game winning streak in nine seasons.  Nobody said making history would be easy though as the Rangers scored just two points in the final 5:44 of play and survived a last second shot to hold off the host Greyhounds.  At 7-12 and 3-5 in the Landmark, the Rangers have propelled themselves back into the playoff hunt with back to back conference wins.

It could have been much easier for the Rangers, but for a team that is still building a winning tradition, easy wins are hard to come by.  The Rangers trailed for the first ten minutes of the game before they took control of the contest for the middle 25.  After Mike Mayes' free throws with 9:33 left to play in the first half tied the game for the third time, at 15-15, the Rangers went on a 14-0 run to take a commanding 29-15 lead.  It was Joe Horvath and Travis DeNapoli, two of Drew's most experienced players, who sparked the run.  Horvath found DeNapoli for a back door layup to make it 17-15 and then drilled a three on the next possession.  The junior then hit a jumper and had a put back to make it 24-15.  After Horvath grabbed a rebound on the defensive end, DeNapoli knocked down a triple for a 27-15 lead.  Finally, Horvath turned in Mayes' nice feed on the break for the 14 point advantage with 3:46 to play in the half.

The Greyhounds hit back with layups from Shane Painter and Blake English, but Mayes responded with four quick points for Drew.  After a three point play by English, Mehmet Onen's layup made it 35-22 at the half.  Horvath was the key, dropping in 16 on 7-8 shootings and grabbing four rebounds in the half, but the Rangers got ten more points off the bench.

The Greyhounds scored the first three points of the half before Drew built a 16 point lead with 14 minutes left to play.  Mayes' layup off Terrell Brown's assist made it 37-25 and Horvath hit a pair of three pointers to offset an English layup.  Up by 16 the Rangers stumbled.  English had a pair of layups and Nnamdi Njoku's basket preceded Chris Cullen's three-pointer at the 10:00 mark. 
Drew led by just seven, but Horvath again rescued the Rangers.  He hit his fifth three pointer of the game before picking off a Greyhound pass and coasting in for an easy layup to bring the edge back to 12, 48-36.  Drew would need all of those points as the Greyhounds spent the next nine minutes crawling back into the game. 

Terrell Brown had two critical baskets to prevent a complete Drew drought, but, despite his best efforts, the Greyounds still managed to cut the lead down to five with 2:34 left to play.  When Shane Painter scored on his third attempt with 1:20 left it brought the hosts to within a possession, 52-49.

On the following possession Mike Mayes came up with another big play.  After pouring in 28 points against Montclair State in the historic win on Wednesday, the junior went to the hoop with 1:06 left to play.  The Greyhounds had done a terrific job slowing Mayes down all night, holding him to eight points, but the threat of the junior getting near the rim allowed Mayes to set up Kyle Joyce for a layup and a 54-49 lead.

The drama wasn't over though as Painter hit another three pointer and the Greyhounds stopped the Rangers on their final possession with nine seconds remaining.  Thankfully, a Moravian attempt as time expired missed and Drew walked out with the 54-52 win. 

Drew led the game for the final 28 minutes of play thanks to Horvath's career high of 27 points.  The junior, who has shown flashes of a big time scorer, set his previous high of 16 against Thomas College in last season's Rose City Classic.  Tonight, he hit 11-15 from the field and 5-7 from behind the arc while also grabbing five rebounds and recording two steals.  The Greyhounds did a great job holding down Drew's dynamic duo of Terrell Brown and Mike Mayes, though each came up with big plays when needed.  Brown finished with six points and 12 boards while Mayes added eight points and six assists.  English had 18 points to lead the Greyhounds.

Drew will look to win four in a row for the first time since a five-game winning streak in 2000-01 when it takes on the Scranton Royals tomorrow at 4 pm. 

Newspaper Box Score
Drew Rangers vs Moravian College
01/29/10 7:30 PM at Johnston Hall, Bethlehem, PA
At Johnston Hall, Bethlehem, PA

DREW RANGERS 54, MORAVIAN COLLEGE 52

DREW RANGERS (7-12, 3-5 Land.)
Joe Horvath 11-15 0-0 27; Mike Mayes 2-9 4-4 8; Terrell Brown 3-9 0-0 6;
Kyle Joyce 2-6 0-0 5; Travis DeNapoli 2-3 0-0 5; Mehmet Onen 1-1 0-0 2;
McNeil Wrice 0-7 1-2 1; Evan Elberg 0-1 0-0 0; Lucas Levenson 0-5 0-0 0.
Totals 21-56 5-6 54.

MORAVIAN COLLEGE (5-14, 1-7 Land.)
Blake English 8-11 2-2 18; Chris Cullen 4-8 4-4 13; Shane Painter 5-12 0-0
12; Nnamdi Njoku 3-12 0-0 8; Jeff Cullinan 0-1 1-2 1; Mark Koelbel 0-3 0-0
0; Ryan Straub 0-0 0-0 0; Mike Zubia 0-1 0-0 0; Ryan O'Donnell 0-3 0-0 0.
Totals 20-51 7-8 52.

Drew Rangers..................   35   19  -   54
Moravian College..............   22   30  -   52

3-point goals--Drew Rangers 7-19 (Joe Horvath 5-7; Travis DeNapoli 1-1; Kyle
Joyce 1-5; McNeil Wrice 0-3; Evan Elberg 0-1; Mike Mayes 0-2), Moravian
College 5-22 (Nnamdi Njoku 2-8; Shane Painter 2-4; Chris Cullen 1-5; Mark
Koelbel 0-1; Mike Zubia 0-1; Ryan O'Donnell 0-2; Jeff Cullinan 0-1). Fouled
out--Drew Rangers-None, Moravian College-None. Rebounds--Drew Rangers 31
(Terrell Brown 12), Moravian College 33 (Shane Painter 8; Chris Cullen 8).
Assists--Drew Rangers 12 (Mike Mayes 6), Moravian College 10 (Chris Cullen
3). Total fouls--Drew Rangers 11, Moravian College 9. Technical fouls--Drew
Rangers-None, Moravian College-None. A-289