SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The American International College men's basketball team outscored Philadelphia University 41-28 in the second half to record a 67-61 victory Friday afternoon in the first game of the 2011 Basketball Hall of Fame Holiday Showcase at the MassMutual Center.

The Yellow Jackets improved to 4-5 with the victory, while the Rams fell to 3-4.

Philadelphia controlled the game the entire first half, outscoring AIC 15-6 over the first 5:59 of the game and eventually taking a 33-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Junior guard Jim Connolly (Harleysville, Pa.) drained a three six minutes into the second half to give the Rams a 46-37 lead and his three with 8:19 to go gave Philadelphia a 52-46 advantage. The Yellow Jackets then went on a 15-3 run to take control of the game and never looked back, closing out the game by going 6-for-6 at the line to secure the win.

Sophomore guard Spencer Braithwaite (Dorchester, Mass.) scored a game-high 21 points with four rebounds and two assists to lead AIC to the win. He went 7-of-10 from the field with three from downtown and hit each of four free throws.

Sophomore forward David Campbell (Boston, Mass.) added 11 points with eight boards, while sophomore guard Janek Schmidkunz (Berlin, Germany) netted 11 points with three boards and two assists. Sophomore forward Brennan Cooper (Springfield, Mass.) tallied a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 boards.

Senior center Temi Adebayo (Ibadan, Nigeria) scored 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor with five boards and three blocked shots to lead the Rams, while Connolly finished with 11 points. Senior guard Corey Francisco (Woodbridge, N.J.) and freshman guard Nich Schlitzer (Pottsville, Pa.) added 10 points each.

AIC shot 45.6 percent (26-57) from the field, 30 percent (6-20) from three and 81.8 percent (9-10) from the line, while Philadelphia shot 49 percent (24-49) from the field (6-17) from three and 70 percent (7-10) from the line.

After a slow start the Yellow Jackets outrebounded the Rams 36-23 and scored 23 points off 18 offensive rebounds, as opposed to the 15 second chance points Philadelphia scored on nine offensive boards. The Rams outscored AIC 24-11 in the paint.

The Yellow Jackets will next host a Northeast-10 Conference game Sunday at 1:30 p.m. against the College of Saint Rose at Henry A. Butova Gymnasium.