WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – After struggling with foul trouble and a rough shooting stretch to turn a nine-point first-half lead into a four-point halftime deficit, the Lycoming College men's basketball team came back with a 50 percent shooting effort that included 14 points off turnover in the second half to post a convincing 80-66 win over the defending MAC Commonwealth champions Alvernia in the conference opener for both teams on Wednesday night, Dec. 2, at Lamade Gym.
 
Four Warriors (4-1 overall, 1-0 MAC Commonwealth) finished in double figures, led by junior Nykolas King (Harlem, N.Y./Manhattan Center for Science & Math), who posted 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists after playing just nine minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. Both freshman T.J. Duckett (Severna Park, Md./Calvert Hall) and sophomore Alex Newbold (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic) each added 15 points and seven rebounds, with Newbold also accumulating six assists and four steals. Sophomore Chris Wallace (Randallstown, Md./Calvert Hall) also added 14 points and nine rebounds.
 
The Warriors dominated on the glass, posting 49 rebounds while limiting Alvernia (4-3 overall, 0-1 MAC Commonwealth) to 32, with 17 offensive rebounds leading to 18 second-chance points and the team scored 44 points in the paint while Alvernia had just 24. Alvernia, a deep shooting team, was held to just 7-of-26 from 3-point range, while Lycoming went 7-of-18 from deep.
 
Down by four points at the break, the Warriors fought back to tie the game in the first four minutes of the second half. The game stayed a one-possession game for the next five minutes before a 3-pointer from Duckett with 11:48 left gave Lycoming a 49-46 lead and started a 15-4 run that gave Lycoming a 61-50 lead with 8:01 remaining. The run was spurred by Newbold, who had a steal and two assists early in the run and King, who had eight points, including two fastbreak layups.
 
Alvernia cut the lead down to seven with 7:15 left, but Lycoming responded with a tip-in from Newbold off a missed layup which started a run of eight straight points. Alvernia cut the deficit to single digits just twice more, coming within 71-62 with 2:00 left, before the Warriors closed the game with nine of the last 13 points.
 
The Warriors, who fell to the Crusaders in the semifinals of the 2015 MAC Commonwealth Championship to end an 18-8 season, opened the game with a 17-8 run that included three trifectas from Duckett. However, the Crusaders fought back to take a 23-22 lead with 8:47 left, starting a run of five lead changes before Alvernia used a 3-pointer from Mike Miller to start a 9-1 run to take a 37-31 lead with 1:49 left in the half. The Warriors cut the lead to two 30 seconds later, but a pair of free throws from Alex Shippen with 17 seconds left sent the Crusaders into the locker room with a 39-35 advantage.
 
Alvernia, which shot just 36 percent from the field in the game, was led by 19 points, six rebounds and two steals from Alex Shippen, 12 points and eight rebounds from Anthony Hedgepeth and 11 points and five rebounds from Mike Miller. Charles Cooper finished with seven points, three rebounds and three assists.
 
The Warriors get back on the court on Saturday, Dec. 5, when they host Stevenson in another MAC Commonwealth doubleheader with the women tipping at 1 p.m. before the men play at 3 p.m.