Box Score

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Senior Michael Rudy (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds and sophomore Rob Pillow (Anchorage, Alaska/Robinson Secondary (Va.)) notched a career-high 18 points to lead the Lycoming College to its fourth straight win, 72-60, over Hood College on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 22, but the Warriors fell just short of making the Commonwealth Conference Tournament for the first time in three years.
 
Lycoming (13-11 overall, 9-9 Commonwealth) finished in a tie for the fifth and final playoff slot with Albright (13-12 overall, 9-9 Commonwealth), but Albright earned the bid to the playoffs by virtue of having beaten top-seeded Alvernia during the season, the second tiebreaker criterion after the Warriors and Lions had split the season meetings. Albright will head to No. 4 seed Hood (16-9 overall, 10-8 Commonwealth) for the first-round game on Monday, Feb. 24.

The narrow edge Albright held on the Warriors became evident during Saturday, as Alvernia topped Messiah, 69-63, and Albright notched a 73-64 win over Elizabethtown to clinch the spot. If Messiah had beaten Alvernia, the Falcons would have taken the top spot in the conference tournament and the Warriors would have earned the No. 5 seed by virtue of beating the Falcons while Albright hadn't.

As it was, the Warriors finished the season with a 9-9 record in the conference after winning five of the team's last six games, a stretch that included wins over the No. 3 (Messiah), No. 4 (Hood) and No. 5 (Albright) teams in the tournament field.
 
The Warriors dominated the game against the Blazers, leading by as many as 23 in the first half and shooting a healthy 50 percent (11-of-22) from 3-point range and holding a 45-36 advantage on the glass. The Warriors held Hood to 30 percent (18-of-60) from the field.
 
Lycoming built a 15-3 lead through the game's first seven minutes, as junior Pat Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J./Scotch Plains-Fanwood) hit two 3-pointers during the run, and Lycoming kept the shots coming, with 3-pointers from Pillow and junior Jourdan Wilson (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) hitting from long-range to get the lead to 26-10 with 6:38 left.
 
The Warriors kept building the lead from there, with senior Kevin Anthony (Columbus, Ohio/Bridgton Academy) dropping down the final dunk of his career on the break with 4:06 left in the second half to make it 34-11 with 4:06 left. Hood closed with 13 with a 13-3 run in the next 3:30, but Pillow sent Lycoming to the break with a 16-point lead when he hit a deep trey at the buzzer.
 
In the second half, the Warriors kept the lead above 15 points, extending it to as many as 22 with 17:05 left. Hood finally closed within 15 with 7:21 left after a 3-pointer from Davon Hill, but Lycoming responded with six straight points to keep a firm hold on the game. Hood closed the final 2:34 left with eight points to make up the final 12-point margin.
 
Pillow finished with 18 points and a career-high tying four 3-pointers and Rudy added his seventh double-double of the season, finishing his career with 801 career points and a school-record 158 blocked shots. Dougher capped off his junior year by posting 13 points and four 3-pointers.
 
Anthony capped his career by posting nine points, finishing 17^th in school history with 1,245, and eight rebounds, finishing with 596 in his career. Junior Malcolm Covington (Bronx, N.Y./Christ the King) posted nine points, seven assists, three rebounds and two steals and senior Justin Miller (Agawam, Mass./Bridgton Academy) added three points and six rebounds. Miller finished his career seventh in school history with 74 career blocked shots.
 
Hill led the Blazers with 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Both Chris and Cemeron Cook posted eight points and Matt Galloway notched six points, five rebounds and four assists.
 
Rancourt finished his sixth year at Lycoming with a 96-59 overall record, as he has led the Warriors to five winning seasons, including three appearances in the conference playoffs and one appearance in the NCAA Tournament.