PHILADELPHIA – The Drew University men's basketball team erased a 15-point second-half deficit, but Susquehanna University pulled away down the stretch to prevail 83-78 Sunday evening at the Palestra in a key Landmark Conference tilt.
 
The two sides entered the game tied for second place in the Landmark Conference standings and just a half game behind conference leader Catholic University for first place.
 
Junior guard Pat Higgins came up big down the stretch for the Rangers (13-2, 6-2 LC), scoring 13 of his team-high 18 points in the final 7:09. Senior guard Andrew Turco added 16 points for Drew while sophomore forward David Musial posted 13 points and seven rebounds. Junior guard Papie Roberts chipped in with 12 points.
 
Marcus Mitchell paced Susquehanna (10-5, 7-1 LC) with 21 points while Billy Anderson posted 18 points and seven rebounds.
 
The Rangers were making their debut in the Palestra, one of the most historic basketball arenas in the country, in the second annual "Landmark at the Palestra," a quadruple header of Landmark Conference games.
 
Susquehanna held its 15-point lead midway through the half, and it was a 72-61 game with 5:16 remaining. But that's when Higgins drove the lane for an and-1 bucket nine seconds later, kicking off a 15-4 Ranger run.
 
Higgins then went coast-to-coast for another lay-in to make it a six-point game (72-66) with 4:33 left. He made it seven points in a row for the Rangers when he coasted in for another basket that made it 74-68 with 3:54 showing.
 
Susquehanna went back up by eight, but the Rangers would not go away, using an 8-0 surge go pull even. After Musial split a pair of free throws, Turco scored five straight points, starting with a fastbreak 3-pointer from the right corner that made it 76-72 with 2:28 left. He then drove the right baseline for a layup to pull the Rangers within two with 2:05 showing.
 
The Rangers drew an offensive foul, then tied it up at 76-all when Higgins drained a pull-up jumper from the left elbow. But Mitchell answered with a jumper with 1:01 showing, and Susquehanna would not trail the rest of the way.
 
Drew missed its next two field-goal attempts, and the River Hawks went 3-for-4 at the foul line to push their advantage to 81-76 with 18 seconds left. Junior guard Josh Kline knocked down a pair of free throws with five ticks showing to make it a one-possession game, but Susquehanna hauled in a full-court inbound pass before drawing a foul with less than a second left and hitting a pair at the line to set the final score.
 
The opening half was a back-and-forth affair in which neither side led by more than five. There were four ties and seven lead changes in the period, and the Rangers enjoyed their largest lead of the game when Turco dropped in a layup to make it 11-7 in the early going. The River Hawks led 21-16 with 9:19 showing, but the Rangers trailed just 23-22 after a 3-pointer from sophomore forward Kevin Cronin with 7:54 on the clock.
 
Freshman guard Eli Yusavage nailed a jumper to pull his team to within one again with 4:59 to go in the half, but that's as close as the Rangers would get for the rest of the period. Roberts knocked down a jumper with seven seconds left and Susquehanna carried a 37-34 lead into the break.
 
The Rangers reclaimed the lead (38-37) on a layup from Turco a minute and a half into the second half. Turco pulled up on the break to drain a triple with 14:46 on the clock to give his team a 49-47 advantage, but that's when Susquehanna embarked on a 19-2 run that gave it a 66-51 lead with 9:02 showing, setting up Drew's comeback.
 
The Rangers are back in action on Wednesday, when they host Elizabethtown College at 7 p.m. in another Landmark Conference matchup.