WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Down by 21 points early in the second half, the Lycoming College men's basketball fought all the way back to have a chance to tie the game with less than 10 seconds remaining, but a last second steal helped Widener University preserve a 72-70 MAC Commonwealth win at Lamade Gym on Saturday, Jan. 28.
 
The Warriors (16-4 overall, 8-3 MAC Commonwealth) outscored the Pride (11-8 overall, 5-5 MAC Commonwealth) by 19 points in the game's final 17:30, cutting their deficit to a single-point after a tough turn-around layup by junior Darius James (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) fell through the net off the back rim with 41 seconds left.
 
The Warriors defended the next possession perfectly, working the shot clock to the final seconds before Widener launched a deep 3-pointer that fell in the arms of Widener's Sardayah Sambo, who was fouled with 12 seconds left. He hit the second of his two free throws to make it 72-70. The Warriors crossed midcourt and called timeout with 9.9 seconds left. After the timeout, Lycoming worked the clock down to four seconds when a pass inside to a cutter was tipped away by Sam Smith and Widener captured the ball to run out the clock.
 
Lycoming was still down 16 points with 12:39 left after a 3-pointer from Elijah Boyd when the team began to chip away at the lead, bringing it down to 10 points with 10:28 left off a 3-pointer, one of six, from sophomore T.J. Duckett (Severna Park, Md./Calvert Hall). A six-point run from senior David Johnson (Philadelphia, Pa./Communications Tech) cut the lead down to four points with 7:47 left at 63-59 before Widener got four points back.
 
The Warriors closed within a possession with 5:08 left after a pair of free throws from senior Nyk King (Harlem, N.Y./Manhattan Center for Science & Math). After a jumper from Ryan McMahon fell through, junior Chris Wallace (Randallstown, Md./Calvert Hall) hit a layup in transition and after a pair of stops, James brought the Warriors within a point for the first time at 69-68 with 1:19 left. However, Sambo responded with his own free throws to make it a 3-points game as the clock ticked under a minute, setting up the dramatic end.
 
Duckett finished with a season-high 21 points to go with three rebounds and King and James each added 11 points. Johnson finished with nine points and four rebounds and Wallace added eight points and four rebounds, as the Warriors shot 32 percent (19-of-60) from the field, but a crisp 86 percent (25-of-29) from the free throw line.
 
Widener shot 46 percent from the field (26-of-57), opening up the large lead thanks to a first half in which they shot 55 percent (18-of-33) and hit seven 3-pointers. Widener opened up the game with an 18-6 run late in the first half, that made an 18-13 lead expand to 36-18 after a tipin by Smith with 2:31 left in the period. The Warriors cut the lead to 17 at 44-27 at the break, but the Pride scored five of the first six points in the second half to get the lead to 49-28 with 17:40 left in the game when Lycoming began its comeback.
 
Smith led the Pride with 18 points and Sambo finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, six blocks and four assists. McMahon added 10 points and five rebounds. The Pride held a 39-32 advantage in rebounding and a 30-18 advantage in points in the paint, while Lycoming held a 21-6 advantage in points off turnover.
 
The Warriors get back on the court on Wednesday, Feb. 1, when they head to Alvernia for a 8 p.m. MAC Commonwealth game as part of a conference doubleheader as the women tip at 6 p.m.