OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Five seconds on the clock, ball off the rim and a clear look at the basket. To quote Blues Brothers, "Let's roll."  Junior Nykolas King (Harlem, N.Y./Manhattan Center for Science & Math) took the ball off the backboard and ran the length of the court, split two defenders and dropped in the layup as the first half came to a close for two of his team-high 21 points. It was that kind of night, as the Lycoming College men's basketball team shot a season-high 56 percent from the field en route to a convincing 89-75 win at Stevenson University on Monday night, Feb. 22, at Owings Mills Gymnasium in the first round of the MAC Commonwealth Championship.
 
King was one of five Warrior starters in double figures, as the Warriors (17-9 overall) shot 30-of-54 from the floor and 25-of-35 from the free throw line to lift the team into the MAC Commonwealth semifinals for the fourth time in the past five years.
 
The fifth-seeded Warriors will now move on to play in the conference semifinals on Wednesday, Feb. 24, at the league's top-seed, Alvernia, at 7 p.m.
 
In the first 4:48 of the game, the fourth-seeded Mustangs (11-15 overall) built an 11-6 lead, but Lycoming responded with a 20-2 run to take a 26-13 lead with 6:58 left. King capped the run with a jumper off a give from sophomore Chris Wallace (Randallstown, Md./Calvert Hall). Freshman T.J. Duckett (Severna Park, Md./Calvert Hall) led the run with two 3-pointers.
 
The Mustangs fought back into the game by scoring 19 of the next 29 points to cut within four points with 1:37 left in the half. However, Lycoming capped the end of the half with a pair of layups, one from junior David Johnson (Philadelphia, Pa./Communications Tech) driving the lane before King got a split two defenders and laid it in at the end of the half to make it 40-32 at the break.
 
Lycoming scored the first four points of the second half, with Wallace and sophomore Alex Newbold (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic) driving in for layups and Stevenson was only able to cut the lead back to eight points once more, at 53-45 with 14:10 remaining. The Warriors responded with a layup in the paint by junior Willie Kee (Baltimore, Md./Parkville) on the next possession, and over the next seven minutes, the Warriors used a 18-8 run to take a game-high 18-point lead at 71-53 off a tip-in by Newbold.
 
Stevenson closed within 12 in the final 1:07, but Lycoming closed out the game by hitting 7-of-8 at the free-throw line to ensure the win.
 
Johnson finished with 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and Wallace notched 14 points, three rebounds and two steals. Newbold also added 14 points and five rebounds and Kee notched 10 points, three steals and two assists. Duckett finished with eight points and went 2-for-3 from 3-point range. Freshman Calvin Chandler (Lake Worth, Fla./Park Vista) added five points.
 
Erik Fisher notched 33 points, six 3-pointers and six rebounds to lead the Mustangs. Joe Kiely notched 13 points and eight rebounds and Ryan Hill posted 12 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Christian Roberts posted seven points and five assists.
 
Lycoming posted a 20-0 advantage in fastbreak points and dominated the paint, posting a 44-28 advantage inside. The Warriors also finished with an 18-8 advantage in points off turnover.