WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Junior Chris Wallace (Randallstown, Md./Calvert Hall) finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds and senior Nyk King (Harlem, N.Y./Manhattan Center for Science and Math) added 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists to lead the Lycoming College men's basketball team to a 69-67 win over Arcadia University in a rematch of the 2016 MAC Commonwealth Championship game at Lamade Gym on Sunday, Jan. 15.
 
The Warriors (15-2 overall, 7-1 MAC Commonwealth) shot just 37 percent from the field, but a solid 70 percent at the line (19-of-27) to outlast the Knights (8-8 overall, 3-4 MAC Commonwealth), as the Warriors held a lead for more than 35 minutes in the game.
 
Lycoming dominated the paint, posting a 34-18 advantage in points in the paint, and held the Knights to just 33 percent (21-of-63) from the floor and 29 percent (8-of-26) from 3-point range.
 
The Knights used an eight-point run to take a 51-50 lead with 7:26 left after a pair of free throws from Kishan Patel, but Wallace answered with a second-chance layup and then King took off on a defensive rebound, running the court and dropping in a layup to start Lycoming's own eight-point run to take a 58-51 lead with 5:12 left.
 
The Knights closed within a possession four times in the final five minutes, but Lycoming had an answer each time, with senior Willie Kee (Baltimore, Md./Parkville) hitting a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left to give Lycoming a 68-64 lead. Wallace added one more free throw with four seconds left before Josh Scott hit an off-balance 3-pointer that fell through with 0.3 seconds left to make up the final margin.
 
The Warriors began to take control with a run of nine straight points that spanned two minutes and made it 16-10 after a fastbreak layup by Johnson with 13:11 remaining. Arcadia kept it at least that close, cutting it down to a point at 20-19 with 8:18 remaining before the Warriors went on another run, scoring eight straight points on a run keyed by an old-fashioned 3-point play by freshman Trent Bishop (Hyattsville, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) and finished on a layup by junior Chris Wallace (Randallstown, Md./Calvert Hall) with 5:37 left.
 
The Knights pushed back into the game with an 8-2 run to make it 30-27, but the Warriors got the last bucket on a coast-to-coast steal and layup from Johnson with 16 seconds left.
 
The Warriors started the second half with a pair of 3-pointers, one from Kee and one from Johnson, to give the Warriors a game-high 11-point lead at 38-27 before the Knights fought the lead back to four points before the team's alternated buckets for much of the rest of the six minutes before Arcadia started its run to take the lead.
 
Johnson finished with 12 points and Kee added nine. Junior Alex Newbold (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic) added seven points and eight rebounds and junior Darius James (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) added six points.
 
Phil Pierfly led the Knights with 14 points and both Ryan Kelley and Evan Slone each added 12 points. Slone also led the team with seven rebounds and Kelly posted three assists and two steals.
 
The Warriors get back on the court on Saturday, Jan. 21, when they start the second half of MAC Commonwealth play with a doubleheader at Hood College. The women will play at 1 p.m. before the men tip at 3 p.m.