CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – McDaniel opened up a seven-point halftime lead en route to a 66-52 win over New Jersey City in the opening round of the DeSales Holiday Tournament in non-conference men's basketball action on Saturday.

Tim Stewart (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) led the Green Terror (6-3) with 14 points while Nick Perugino (Lewes, Del./Salesianum) added 12 points to send his team into Sunday's championship game against the host Bulldogs, who defeated Elizabethtown 72-69 in double overtime in the game's first day.

Neveille Joseph led the Gothic Knights (2-8) with 15 points.

Back-to-back layups from Jourdan Roberson and Eddie Brown staked New Jersey City to a 4-1 lead before a pair of Stewart baskets put McDaniel back in front 5-4 with 16:02 on the clock.

Two Perugino 3-pointers pushed the lead to 11-5 before a Joseph three-point play once again closed the deficit to three with 13:54 on the clock.

Six straight Green Terror points from three different players stretched the lead to 17-8 before the Gothic Knights snapped a 5-minute, 18-second scoring drought when Joseph converted a three-point play in transition.

A Roberson 3-pointer and two Joseph Kelley free throws closed the deficit to 19-16 with 6:10 remaining in the opening stanza.

Clinging to a 21-20 edge, Wes Brooks (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) drained a 3-pointer to spark a 10-4 run over the final 4:26 of the first half to make it a 31-24 game.

Jamall McDaniel hit a 3-pointer 11 seconds into the second half to close the deficit to four and a Brown jumper a minute later made it a 31-29 game.

A Brooks flying tip-in off a Perugino missed 3-pointer with 18:27 showing sparked a 7-1 counter to give the Green Terror its largest lead to that point and force a timeout with 16:09 on the clock.

The lead remained between six and nine points until Perugino drained back-to-back triples to give McDaniel a 46-34 lead with 12:13 remaining.

A Phillip Perry (Crownsville, Md./Annapolis Area Christian) driving layup with 5:19 to play made it a 56-44 game and snapped a 6-minute, 54-second drought from the floor for the Green Terror – and a drought of 4:43 for either team.

A Joseph three-point play 20 seconds later returned the deficit to nine befire two Roberson free throws made it a 56-49 game with 4:38 showing.

Jack Rauchut (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) converted a three-point play at the other end to push the lead back to nine.

Cameron Royster (Derwood, Md./Magruder) added 12 points while Brooks and Perry rounded out five players in double figures with 10 points each.

Game time on Sunday is 4 p.m.

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