READING, Pa. – In the final 10 minutes the game on Wednesday, Jan. 13, junior David Johnson (Philadelphia, Pa./Communications Tech) took over, scoring 20 points, including 10 in overtime to lead the Lycoming College men's basketball team to an 82-77 win over Albright College in MAC Commonwealth play at the Bollman Center.
 
Johnson finished the game with a career-high 25 points and he added three rebounds and two steals off the bench, as the Warrior point guard was extremely efficient down the stretch, hitting all eight of his free throws and facilitating and guiding an offense that hit 7-of-11 from the field in the game's final 9:44 to guide the Warriors (12-3 overall, 5-2 MAC Commonwealth) back from a five-point deficit in regulation before taking over in overtime with 10 of the team's 15 points. He also crossed the 1,000-point barrier in his collegiate career during the game, as he scored 830 in two years at Mercer County Community College before transferring to Lycoming, where he has scored 181 this year.
 
The Warriors started the overtime period off with four straight points, all coming from Johnson before the Lions (6-9 overall, 3-3 MAC Commonwealth) scored five in a row to take a 72-71 lead with 3:18 left. The Warriors took the lead back, though, when senior Eric Ishman (Jamaica, N.Y./Christ the King) drove in for a tough take layup with 2:47 left. After that, the Lions hit just one of their next five shots, while Lycoming expanded its lead by going 7-of-8 at the line and 1-of-1 from the field to make it 82-74 with 11 seconds left after the last of Johnson's six free throw makes in as many attempts in the overtime period.
 
Johnson took the Warriors back from the brink late in the game, scoring eight points in a row to take Lycoming from a 62-57 deficit with 4:43 left to a 65-63 with 2:24 left.
 
The Lions tied the game at 65 with a layup from Thomas Vazzana with 1:27 left before Omari Ringgold scored a layup after a pair of Lycoming free throw misses to give the Lions a 67-65 lead with 55 seconds left. Johnson responded with a second-chance layup off the sixth offensive rebound of the game from sophomore Chris Wallace (Randallstown, Md./Calvert Hall) with 35 seconds left.
 
Forced to play solid defense with 35 seconds left, the Warriors did just that, but King fouled out with six seconds left off a shot attempt by Albright, but the Lions missed both free throws to send the game to overtime.
 
Down by three points at the break, the Warriors came out strong, scoring six of the first eight points of the half to take its first lead since it was 5-2 at 35-34 before Wallace finished off an old-fashioned 3-point play. The bucket started a period of six ties and nine lead changes in the next seven minutes before Albright broke away with a pair of close-range shots, with Evan Dunn notching a dunk with 8:30 left to make it 55-50.
 
Lycoming cut the lead back to a paint with 6:26 left thanks to a pair of layups from King, but Albright responded with two jumpers to get the lead back to five after an Omari Ringgold jumper with 4:43 left. Johnson dropped in a layup in response to get the Warrior offense set up for the dramatic regulation finish.
 
For the third game in a row, sophomore Alex Newbold (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic) kicked off the scoring with a layup before Albright rolled off on a 9-3 run to take a 9-5 lead with 14:51 left. After that, the Warriors fought back to tie the game at 13, the last of three ties in the game's first 8:34. Albright, which hit 5-of-8 from 3-point range in the first half was able to use an 11-3 run to take a 32-22 lead with 2:07 left.
 
The Warriors fought back, though, dropping in seven straight points in the final 127 seconds, with Newbold hitting a jumper with 11 seconds left to help Lycoming head into the break down by three points, 32-29.
 
Wallace finished with 16 points and 17 rebounds for his second double-double of the season, as Wallace's 17 rebounds were the most by a Warrior since Matt Stackhouse grabbed 21 against Wilkes on Dec. 4, 2002. King also finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season and Newbold narrowly missed one, notching 11 points and nine rebounds.
 
Ringgold finished with 27 points, hitting 11-of-16 from the field and 5-of-7 from 3-point range to lead the Lions. He was complimented by DeJuan Smith, who finished with 21 points, five rebounds and four assists.
 
The Warriors held a 56-37 advantage on the glass, which led to 52 points in the paint and a 23-16 advantage in second-chance points.
 
The Warriors get back on the court on Saturday, Jan. 16, when they host Lebanon Valley in a MAC Commonwealth doubleheader. The women tip at 1 p.m. before the men play at 3 p.m.