SALEM, Va. – McDaniel closed the first half on a 13-3 run to open up a nine-point edge and never trailed in the second half, defeating Montclair 63-53 in the first game of the Cregger Classic hosted by Roanoke in non-conference men's basketball action on Saturday.

Freshman Austin Cannon (Hampstead, Md./Manchester Valley) established a career best with 16 points to lead the Green Terror (5-3) into Sunday's championship game against the winner of the day's second game between Roanoke and Kenyon.

Brandon Channer paced the Red Hawks (5-5) with 16 points and nine rebounds.

Two Russell free throws gave Montclair a 10-5 advantage with 13:04 to play in the first half before a Kevin Yrizarry (Owings Mills, Md./Owings Mills) layup and Duane Echols (Jessup, Md./Hammond) 3-pointer evened the game just over a minute later.

After a Channer jumper gave Montclair an 18-17 edge, Wes Brooks (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) responded with a 3-pointer at the other end to put his team in front for good with 2:40 showing.

Cameron Royster (Derwood, Md./Magruder) hit a layup and Cannon drained two free throws to push the lead to six with 1:16 on the clock before Channer snapped the Red Hawk drought, hitting a layup with 55 ticks remaining.

A Royster 3-pointer extended the advantage to seven before Erick Loften-Harris hit the first of two free throws with four seconds on the clock.

Cannon beat the first-half buzzer, draining a 28-footer from the left wing to make it a 30-21 game at the break.

Baskets from Jaleel Christmon and Jordan Roberson cut the deficit to five 1:17 into the second half before Brooks hit a jumper to spark a 9-1 run that extended the lead to 39-26 with 14:02 to play.

Trailing 53-40 on two Cannon free throws with 5:16 to play, Shaun Russell hit a layup at the other end to spark an 11-4 rally that closed the margin to 57-51 on a Channer triple with 2:52 showing.

Two Lofton-Harris free throws made it a 58-53 game with 1:33 to play but the Green Terror hit five of its eight free-throw attempts over the next minute to seal the win.

Brooks finished with 16 points while Stewart added 11. Brooks also added four steals while Cannon had five assists. Yrizarry led the way on the glass with eight rebounds to go with eight points. Royster also finished with eight points.

Game time on Sunday is 2 p.m.

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