ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Muhlenberg College broke open a close game with a big second half and the host Mules defeated the Drew University men's basketball team 84-61 in a non-conference tilt Wednesday evening.
 
The Rangers (6-3), playing without leading rebounder Howard McBurnie, Jr., trailed just 32-28 at halftime but were outscored 52-33 in the second half.
 
Junior guard Andrew Turco scored 19 points to lead Drew while senior forward Michael Kane contributed 12 points and seven rebounds.  Senior Kyle Cassidy and sophomore Ras Fisher came off the bench to score seven points apiece.
 
Dan Gaines scored 20 points for Muhlenberg (6-1), which received votes in the latest D3hoops.com Top-25 poll.
 
The Rangers used an 8-0 run, with Turco scoring six of the points, to go up 12-4 early in the game. Turco knocked down another jumper with 12:21 left in the half to give the Rangers their biggest lead (16-8) of the game.
 
Muhlenberg answered later in the opening period with a 13-3 run to go up 24-21 with 4:24 showing. Kane scored five straight points to put the Rangers up 28-26, but the Mules answered with the last six points of the half to assume their four-point advantage.
 
Drew pulled to within one twice in the second half, the last time coming on a Turco 3-pointer with 17:25 left to make it a 38-37 game. But that's when the Mules broke out with a 12-0 run that turned into a decisive 21-2 surge to break the game open, as Muhlenberg took a 59-39 lead with 10:42 remaining. The Mules gradually added to their advantage the rest of the way.
 
The Rangers return home on Saturday, when they take on Haverford College at 2 p.m. in another non-conference match-up.