Stevenson, Md.-As they opened up the 10th Annual Legg Mason Classic, the Villa Julie Mustangs defended their home court, defeating the Penn State-Berks Nittany Lions 71-62.

The Mustangs set the tempo and began the game with a 9-0 run. The men fought hard to hold on to their early lead, playing tough defense and grabbing rebounds with Jeremy Bernard (Baltimore, MD/ Western Tech.) leading the team in the first half, tallying a total of 11 rebounds. After guard Jason Lambert (Bloomfield, CT/ Kingswood-Oxford) landed his third consecutive three-pointer, the Mustangs were up by 19 points with five minutes on the game clock. The team worked together to keep control and finished the period 37-19.

Looking to seal a victory over their opponents, the Mustangs returned to the court ready to continue dominating the scoreboard. But the Lions proved to be a challenge, cutting Villa Julie's lead to seven points with just over 11 minutes in the half. The Mustangs picked up speed and went on a 10-0 run to defend its lead, and as time wound down the team was able to keep the Lions from making a comeback, improving the men's overall record to 3-9.

Leading the Mustangs with 17 rebounds and 10 points was Bernard, while Greg Woody (Baltimore, MD/ Mt. St. Joseph) led the team in scoring with a total of 16 points, followed by Justin Miles (Baltimore, MD/ Douglas) with 11 points and Lambert with nine.

The Mustangs will compete in the championship game of the Legg Mason tournament on Sunday, Jan. 6 against University of Dallas at 6:30 pm.

University of Dallas defeated NC Wesleyan in the second men's game of the day 74-70.  NC Wesleyan's had the game high of 29 points and Dallas was led by Joe Packard with 19 points and Michael Ricketts with 16.  NC Wesleyan will play against PSU-Berks tomorrow at 4:30 pm in the consolation game.