Box Score

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Despite shooting a season-low 40 percent from the field and being outrebounded by 17 boards, the Lycoming College men’s basketball team found itself in a position to win in the final minute and with a blazing drive down the lane by senior Anthony Martin (Detroit, Mich./Christ the King) for a layup with 10 seconds left, the Warriors were able to down Hood College, 78-76, in Commonwealth Conference action on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 1.
 
The Blazers (4-2 overall, 1-1 Commonwealth) tried to get off a last-second shot to tie the game, but senior defensive replacement Ihsaan Davis (Jamaica, N.Y./Christ the King) knocked it to the floor to preserve the win for the Warriors (5-1 overall, 2-0 Commonwealth).
 
“I thought Justin Miller and the other guys did a great job ‘talling up,’” Lycoming head coach Guy Rancourt said of the last play, “and forcing Hood to make a tough shot.”
 
The stat sheet was deceiving at the end of the game, as Hood held a 52-26 advantage in the paint, 14-6 on points off turnover, 18-5 on second-chance points and 26-2 on fastbreak points, shot 48 percent from the field to Lycoming’s 40 and held a 51-34 advantage in rebounding.
 
However, the Warriors held a 14-9 advantage in turnovers and hit 10 3-pointers to Hood’s two while hitting 14 free throws, the same amount as Hood, despite taking 14 fewer attempts.
 
“Free throws and rebounding decide games,” Rancourt said. “Hood struggled from the line but did very well on the glass. Rebounding differential was the reason why it was so closely contested. I was happy with the guys and the effort they put up, but when the shot went up, they had the intensity to get it.”
 
The two teams fought through 13 ties and 15 lead changes in the game. Hood took a 17-10 lead with 13:35 left in the first half, but the Warriors responded with a 12-5 run to tie it with 9:53 left after a layup by junior Kevin Anthony (Columbus, Ohio/Bridgton Academy).
 
From there, neither team took more than a five point lead and worked through six more ties before Hood took a one-point lead into the locker room on a pair of free throws by Justin Stone with 22 seconds left to make it 47-46.
 
After the solid shooting in the first half, neither team shot better than 37 percent in the second half, which helped benefit the Warriors, who took advantage of the long ball to take control of the game with 11:39 left. After Davis canned a 3-pointer with 13:36 left to give Lycoming a 59-56 lead, a free throw by Hood made it a two-point game before Lycoming capped the 9-1 run with 3-pointers from sophomore Patrick Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J./Scotch Plains-Fanwood) and Davis.
 
A traditional 3-point play by Miller (Agawam, Mass./Bridgton Academy) helped Lycoming take a nine-point lead at 70-61 with 7:56 left, but the Blazers worked back into the game with a late 10-2 run that tied the game at 76 with 45 seconds left on a layup by Jeremy Veras.
 
The Warriors then set up their final offensive play, with Martin getting the ball at the top of the key and waiting until the shot clock was at four before driving in untouched for the winning layup.
 
“I saw that if I went off the screen they were going to try to trap me, so I told Justin to go back and I just tried to make a play,” Martin said.
Anthony led four Warriors in double figures with 16 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and two assists. Freshman Rob Pillow IV (Anchorage, Alaska/Robinson Secondary) added 13 points, hitting three 3-pointers and both Martin and Miller added 11 points. Miller also posted seven rebounds and two assists.
 
Dougher finished with nine points and three 3-pointers and Davis also notched nine points. Senior point guard Jerald Williams (Riverdale, Md./Bladensburg) finished with 11 assists and two steals.
 
Justin Stone led the Blazers with 18 points, 19 rebounds and four assists and Veras posted 13 points and 10 rebounds. Trey Quinn added five points, 10 rebounds and eight assists and Justin Bowens notched 16 points and four assists.
 
The Warriors get back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 5, when they head to Elizabethtown College in a Commonwealth Conference doubleheader. The women tip at 6 p.m. and the men tip at 8 p.m.