Box Score l Photo Gallery

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – For the Lycoming College men’s basketball team on Saturday, Feb. 18, it went down to the last minute, but it finished the day exactly where it started. A half hour after a 68-60 loss to Alvernia University at Lamade Gym, the Warriors wrapped up the No. 3 seed in the Commonwealth Conference Championship after the completion of Saturday, Feb. 18’s play determined the playoff seeding.
 
The Warriors (18-7 overall, 8-6 Commonwealth) finished in a three-way tie for third in the league with Albright (17-8 overall, 8-6 Commonwealth) and Alvernia (17-8 overall, 8-6 Commonwealth), but the Warriors held the second tiebreaker. After a comparison of head-to-head records (each team split the series with the other two opponents), the next tiebreaker goes to the best record against each opponent in the conference by seed. With a sweep of Lebanon Valley, who finished sixth, the Warriors clinched the bid. Albright held the tiebreaker over Alvernia based on the third tiebreaker, points differential.
 
Lycoming will face second-seeded Widener at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 18, in Chester, Pa., in the Commonwealth Conference semifinals.
 
The Warriors opened the game with six straight points and held the lead for much of the first half before a 3-pointer from Stefan Thompson with 1:53 left gave Alvernia a 23-22 lead. Lamont Clark added a layup near the end of the period to give the Crusaders a three-point lead at intermission.
 
In the second half, the Crusaders opened the half on a 14-4 run in which Thompson hit three 3-pointers, giving them a 39-26 lead with 14:11 left. The Crusaders got the lead to as many as 16 with 5:45 left before the Warriors went on 15-5 run to cut the lead to six points with 3:19 left after a three-point play from junior Anthony Martin (Detroit, Mich./Christ the King) made it 55-49. That was as close as Lycoming could get, though, closing within six twice more in the final minute, but the Crusaders hit all six of their free throws down the stretch to ice the game.
 
Senior Mike Bradley (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph’s Prep) finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double, also adding three assists. Martin notched 19 points and five rebounds and freshman Chris Foreman (Union, N.J./Union) canned three 3-pointers for nine points. Junior Jerald Williams (Riverdale, Md./Bladensberg) added four assists and four rebounds.
 
Also, in the final games of their regular-season careers, senior Austin Smith (Lansdowne, Pa./Penn Wood) posted four points and nine rebounds and Brandon McFarland (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville Area) added two points, a block and a steal.
 
Thompson led the Crusaders with 26 points, four rebounds and two steals. Brian Nerney notched 13 points, 14 rebounds and six assists and Cory Boone added 12 points and nine rebounds.
 
Before the game, Bradley, McFarland and Smith were honored in a short ceremony for their contributions to the program.