ANNVILLE, Pa. – Time and again, the Lycoming College men's basketball team closed within a basket, but Lebanon Valley was able to find an answer on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 20, as Lebanon Valley secured the No. 2 seed in next week's MAC Commonwealth Championship with a 76-70 win at Sorrentino Gymnasium, while Lycoming will wait for the final results in tonight's Arcadia and Messiah game to see if it earns a slot in the tournament.
                                    
Down by six points after a pair of free throws from Lebanon Valley's Travis Conrad with 1:49 left, the Warriors (16-9 overall, 8-8 MAC Commonwealth) responded with four straight points, as sophomore Alex Newbold (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic) dropped in a layup and junior David Johnson (Philadelphia, Pa./Communications Tech) added a pair of free throws to make it 70-68. The Warriors forced a turnover to get the ball back with 45 seconds left, but Lycoming's runner to tie the game fell off the rim.
 
With Lycoming forced to foul, Sam Light hit a pair of free throws for Lebanon Valley (16-9 overall, 10-6 MAC Commonwealth) to give the Flying Dutchmen a 72-68 lead, but the Warriors responded, as Newbold tipped in a layup to bring it back to 72-70. Lycoming's final two shots fell off the rum and Lebanon Valley hit its last four free throws to make up the final margin.
 
The Warriors' postseason fate won't be decided until the end of tonight's game between Arcadia and Messiah, which is set to start at 5:45 p.m.
 
Entering the second half down by a point, the Warriors fought back to take its first lead since it was 2-0 when senior Nykolas King (Harlem, N.Y./Manhattan Center for Science & Math) dropped in an old-fashioned 3-point play to make it 39-38 with 16:11 left. The Flying Dutchmen fought back with a pair of two-pointers before Lycoming used a 6-2 run to tie the game at 45 with 13:25 left after a layup by Newbold.  
 
Lebanon Valley responded with a pair of two-pointers to make it 59-45 and although, Lycoming never let Lebanon Valley take a lead of more than six points, the Warriors couldn't tie or take the lead.
 
The Flying Dutchmen got out to a 10-5 lead through the game's first five minutes, as Zach Mrozek and Sam Light each hit early 3-pointers. Lycoming battled back to close within a point at 13-12 off a free throw from Newbold with 11:43 left. However, the Dutchmen responded with five straight points from Light and kept the lead between two and six points from the next nine minutes before a 3-pointer from senior Eric Ishman (Jamaica, N.Y./Christ the King) brought the Warriors within three points with 2:18 left. In the final minute of the half, layups by senior John Monkam (Lanham, Md./DuVal) and junior Willie Kee (Baltimore, Md./Parkland) helped bring the team within a point at 30-29 at the break.
 
King led the Warriors with 20 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Kee added 17 points, two assists and two steals and Johnson notched 12 points and three steals. Newbold posted 10 points and two steals and Monkam posted two points and a career-high tying nine rebounds to go with a career-high three steals.
 
The Warriors forced the Dutchmen into 21 turnovers, holding a 15-2 lead in steals which led to 20 points off turnover, but the Dutchmen shot 51 percent (25-of-49) in the game and hit 22-of-26 at the free throw line while Lycoming hit 22-of-30.
 
Andy Orr led the Dutchmen with 22 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. Light added 19 points and seven rebounds and both Kyler Burke and Mrozek each added 13 points.