CHESTER, Pa. – Holding Widener University scoreless for nearly seven minutes in the second half, the Lycoming College men's basketball team overcame a seven-point second-half deficit to stay undefeated in MAC Commonwealth play with a 74-62 win at the Schwartz Center on Saturday, Dec. 10.
 
Down 57-52 after a layup by Sam Smith with 8:06 left, the Warriors (7-1 overall, 3-0 MAC Commonwealth) took over with a 15-0 run, shooting 6-of-11 from the floor and picking up five steals during the run, as Widener (5-4 overall, 1-3 MAC Commonwealth) took just two shots from the floor during the run.
 
Junior Chris Wallace (Randallstown, Md./Calvert Hall) led the run with five points and freshman Ronald Jefferson (Brooklyn, N.Y./Christ the King) added four points.
 
The run finished with an old-fashioned 3-point play by Wallace after he got an outlet pass on a fastbreak from freshman Damani Myers (Baldwin, N.Y./St. Mary's) and missed a layup, but got his own rebound and put it in to make it 67-57 with 2:34 left. It took Widener two more possessions to finally find the scoreboard, with John Fender hitting a layup with 1:17 left.
 
From there, the Warriors closed the game by hitting 7-of-8 at the free throw line while never letting the Pride back within seven points.
 
"We stuck with it and finally we were able to crack through," Lycoming head coach Guy Rancourt said. "That's one of the most important parts of our system. It looks like chaos, but it is controlled chaos. Our guys got a little twisted for a minute there, but they sorted it out and we were able to pull it out."
 
Wallace led a group of three Warriors in double figures, posting 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. Jefferson added 10 points, two assists and two steals and senior David Johnson (Philadelphia, Pa./Communications Tech) finished with 14 points, four steals, two assists and he hit all three of his shots from 3-point range.
 
Widener took control of the lead for much of the first half, leading 17-9 with 13:09 left in the first period before Lycoming used a 10-3 run to tie the game at 24 after a five-point run from sophomore T.J. Duckett (Severna Park, Md./Calvert Hall) with 7:28 remaining. After that, neither team led by more than a bucket the rest of the half, with a running jumper off the glass with five seconds left by Wallace sending Lycoming into the break with a 35-33 lead.
 
After going through three more ties and three lead changes in the second half's opening 5:32, Widener used a 9-2 run to take a 52-45 lead with 11:40 left, but Lycoming cut the lead back into two possessions quickly, setting up its penultimate run after Smith's layup with 8:06 left.
 
Smith led the Pride with 14 points and two rebounds and Fender posted 11 points and three assists. Sardayah Sambo finished with seven points, four rebounds and two blocks and both Ryan McMahon and Nick Jackson notched nine points.
 
Junior Darius James (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) added nine points, with two coming off a layup with his back on the floor, four rebounds and two steals and Duckett posted eight points and six rebounds. Myers also added eight points, three rebounds and two assists and senior Nyk King (Harlem, N.Y./Manhattan Center for Science & Math) posted seven points and seven rebounds.
 
The Warriors host Alvernia in a MAC Commonwealth doubleheader on Tuesday, Dec. 13. The women will tip off at 6 p.m. before the men play at 8 p.m.