CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - The Drew University men's basketball team erased a 16-point deficit in the final 13 minutes to pull out a 66-64 victory over Hood College in the first round of the Al Senavitis Memorial Tournament, hosted by DeSales University, on Wednesday evening.

Senior guard David Gervase capped the comeback for the Rangers (6-5), draining a 3-pointer with 39 seconds left to give his team its first lead (65-64) since it was 2-0. 

Classmate Lybrant Robinson helped clinched the victory with a big steal with 19 seconds left. He out-hustled a Hood player into the backcourt before diving on the floor to come up with the ball.

The Rangers dodged a bullet in the closing seconds. After Drew committed a turnover, Hood missed a chance to tie or take the lead when it missed a pair of free throws with six ticks showing. Junior forward Howard McBurnie, Jr. rebounded the second shot and sent an outlet pass to sophomore guard Malcolm Newman, who hit the front end of a 1-and-1 to set the final score. The Blazers bricked a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

McBurnie posted a monster double-double for the Rangers, who won their third game in a row. He scored 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting while grabbing a season-high 17 rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass. It was his ninth double-double of the season and his seventh in a row.

Junior forward Michael Kane added 14 points for Drew while Newman finished with 11 points and a career-high eight rebounds. Gervase also ended the night with 11 points while senior guard Drew Gallagher tied a career-high with five assists.

The Rangers outrebounded the Blazers 53-35 and piled up 28 second-chance points.

Mason Wang led Hood (6-3) with 22 points.

The Rangers trailed by only four with three minutes left in the opening half before the Blazers closed the period on a 10-2 run to assume a 40-28 lead at the intermission. 

Hood opened up its 16-point advantage when Wang connected on his fourth and final 3-pointer of the night, making it 51-35 with 12:50 on the clock. The Blazers still led by 14 (55-41) with 9:55 remaining and by 10 (57-47) with 8:14 to go before McBurnie provided a spark with a steal and dunk. He followed up with a put-back to make it 57-51. Gervase then drained his first triple of the night to pull the Rangers within four (58-54) with 6:21 left.

Newman scored the next five points for the Blue and Green, dropping in a lay-up before splashing in a 3 to tie the game at 59-all with 4:15 still remaining.

The Blazers nudged their lead to 62-59 with four minutes left, but it would prove to be their last field goal of the night. Gallagher pulled the Rangers even with a huge 3 with 2:06 left, scoring his only points following an offensive rebound and kick-out from McBurnie.

Hood went back in front with 1:53 to go following a pair of free throws, setting up the big finish.

The Rangers will now face 24th-ranked and undefeated DeSales in the tournament championship game on Thursday at 7 p.m.