MEADVILLE, Pa. - Visiting Houghton used a late surge to top Allegheny 63-60 in the Gators' home opener to round out night one of the 2017 Greg Richards '08 Memorial Classic, presented by Marquette Savings Bank.

The Highlanders (2-0) came back from a big halftime deficit to outscore Allegheny (0-1) 17-3 over the final seven minutes of play and earn the win.

The Gators finished with five more field goals than the Highlanders, while also ending plus-4 in the turnover column, but Houghton shot a strong 12-for-17 from the foul line, compared to Allegheny's 4-for-15 showing from the stripe.

Sophomore Jordan Rawls paced a balanced Allegheny scoresheet with 11 points, while classmate Zach Pateras netted nine points, and the junior tandem of Antonio Frisina and Billy Urso eight points apiece.  Rawls also grabbed a team-best eight rebounds, with Frisina added seven, as both teams grabbed 38 boards for the game.

Tied at just 5-all after the opening seven minutes of action, the Gators used a trio of three-pointers, with one from Rawls and two from Pateras, to jump out to a 14-5 lead with just over 11 minutes left in the half.  After the long distance splurge, Allegheny stayed hot, with a Nijon Kirkman steal leading to a Sean Dougherty layup to make it 18-8, before Rawls' second trey of the half extended Allegheny's lead into double figures, 21-10, with 6:21 remaining.

After taking the double-digit lead, the Gators would then feed off of its defense to continue to pull away.  Allegheny forced turnovers on three straight Houghton possessions, including a pair of shot clock violations, while a pair of buckets from Brendan O'Toole sandwiched Pateras' third trey of the night and upped the Gators' lead to 28-11 with 2:42 left in the half.  Allegheny would eventually enter the locker room with a 33-18 halftime lead.

Over the opening 20 minutes, the Gator defense limited Houghton to just six field goals while forcing 12 Highlander turnovers.  Conversely, Allegheny bucketed 14 shots, including seven from distance, while turning the ball over just five times.  

Fueled by seven points from rookie Lamar Todd, the Gator lead would continue to hover between 14 and 17 points over the first seven minutes of the second frame. The tide would then turn, as Houghton got hot from the outside, connecting on four treys in a four-minute span to whittle the deficit down to 10, 50-40, with just over 10 minutes left in regulation.

The Gators looked to shrug off the Houghton surge, quickly regaining the momentum. After back-to-back buckets from Frisina, O'Toole followed by cashing in on a driving layup to push his team's lead to 54-40, before another bucket in the paint from Rawls gave the hosts a 56-40 lead with 8:39 left to play.

Houghton again began to chip away, rattling off a 10-1 run over the next two minutes - helped by a 6-for-6 effort from the foul line over the span - to cut the gap to 57-50 with 6:31 to go.  A successful Rawls free throw with 6:04 left temporarily halted the Houghton surge and pushed Allegheny in front 58-50, but from there, the Highlanders took over.

Houghton's Jordan Holmes' three-pointer pulled the visitors to within 59-55 with 5:02 left, before Antonio Deadmon's layup off of an offensive rebound made it a two-point game 90 seconds later.  Frisina split a pair of freebies to give Allegheny a 60-57 advantage at the 3-minute mark, but Houghton scored six straight points and took their first lead of the night, 63-60, on Dylan Lambert's three with 55 seconds remaining.

With 10 seconds left, the Gators forced Houghton's 16th turnover of the night, but Urso's potential game-tying three-pointer from the top of the key just missed the mark as time expired, allowing Houghton to escape with the win.

Over the game's final 20 minutes, the Highlanders went 15-for-32 from the field, including a 6-for-11 mark from behind the arc, while also cashing in on nine of 11 chances at the free throw line. Conversely, the Gators went just 1-for-10 from deep, and 4-for-12 from the charity stripe.

Carl Holmes led Houghton with 20 points, while Jordan Holmes came off the bench to score 19, bolstered by five three-pointers.  Lambert posted a double-double for the Highlanders, scoring 10 points with a game-high 11 boards, while also dishing six assists.

Liam Wilby led Allegheny with four assists without committing a turnover, while Jamison Nee topped the Gators with two steals.

Allegheny will now have a short wait as it looks to even its record, with the Gators taking on Washington & Jefferson (0-1) in the final game of the Greg Richards '08 Memorial Classic at 5 p.m. on Saturday in the Wise Center.  The Presidents were defeated 80-65 by Stevenson in their first game of the weekend.