Penn College held off a second-half push from Gallaudet in a 78-85 final on Saturday in United East men’s basketball action. The Wildcats remain undefeated in conference play, 2-0, 4-5 overall while the Bison fell to 0-3, 0-9 overall.

The Wildcats and Bison battled through 15 lead changes and nine ties through the first half. Donnie Bass Briscoe gave the Wildcats a 29-28 lead with 4:36 left in the half before Livingston Cross scored the next six points and Julien Leveille drained a three and the ensuing free throw with 1:38 on the clock for the Wildcats’ largest first-half lead, 39-30.

A 39-35 Wildcat advantage at the half was run down by Galladet until a pair of free throws tied the game at 62-62 and two more gave the Bison a two-point lead. Bass Briscoe ended the GU run with a 7-4 run by himself and a 69-68 lead with five minutes remaining. The Wildcats closed out the game down the stretch by converting 10 of 13 free throws and denying the Bison shooters on six of their final seven shots.

Gavin Barrett posted a 13-assist, 12-point double-double while also moving into fourth all-time in program scoring (1,291), and sole possession of the NCAA-era program scoring record, surpassing Ben Sosa’s 1,286 points. Cross came down with his 10th rebound at the buzzer to go along with 14 points and score his seventh double-double of the year. Ronn Flood, Jr., was a board shy of recording a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds while Bass Briscoe led the Wildcats’ scoring efforts with 16 points.

Blessed Mbogo led the Bison with a game-high 20 points.

Penn College heads for warmer weather over the holiday break to compete in the Florida Sunshine Shootout in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Wildcats take on UMass Boston on Saturday, Dec. 28 and Norwich on Sunday, both games tip off at 6 p.m.

Penn College 85, Gallaudet 78

GALLAUDET (0-9, 0-1 UE)

Blessed Mbogo5-15 8-12 20; Alex Ortman 6-11 3-4 15; Bruce Brewer Jr. 5-8 2-2 12; Jory Valencia 4-12 0-0 9; Brandon Chung 4-7 0-0 8; Kalib Jones 1-6 4-4 7; Wyatt Crlson 2-5 -0 4; Elijah Fabela 1-3 1-2 3; Kyle Florio 0-0 0-0 0; Samer Sawan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-67 18-24 78.

PENN COLLEGE (4-5, 2-0 UE)

Livingston Cross 5-11 3-3 14; Gavin Barrett 3-10 6-8 12; Ronn Flood Jr. 4-10 1-2 10; Christian Chandler 2-5 0-0 6; Michael Woolridge 2-2 1-2 5; Donnie Bass Briscoe 5-9 5-8 16; DJ Smith III 3-6 1-2 8; Landon Reeder 4-5 0-0 8; Julien Leveille 1-5 3-3 6. Totals 29-63 20-28 85.

Halftime: PCT 39-35. 3-point goals: Gallaudet 4-19 (Mbogo 2-7, Valencia 1-5, Jones 1-2, Carlson 0-1, Brewer Jr. 0-2, Ortman 0-2), PCT 7-25 (Chandler 2-4, Cross 1-2, Bass Briscoe 1-3, Smith III 1-4, Leveille 1-3, Reeder 0-1, Barrett 0-3). Fouled out: Gallaudet-Chung; PCT-none. Rebounds: Gallaudet 46 (Jones 9), PCT 30 (Cross 10). Assists: Gallaudet 14 (Brewer Jr. 5), PCT 19 (Barrett 13). Technical fouls: Gallaudet-Ortman; PCT-none. Total fouls: Gallaudet 24, PCT 17. A: 245.