HOBOKEN, N.J. – A good look at a game-tying shot fell off the rim with two seconds left to help second-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology survive an upset bid from the fifth-seeded Lycoming College men's basketball team in the MAC Freedom Championship final, 71-68, on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 27, at Canavan Arena.
 
Down by three with 23 seconds left, junior Mo Terry (Severn, Md./Severn School) stripped the ball from the Stevens (16-8 overall) ball carrier at midcourt, for the second time in the game, and sprinted in for a layup to make it 69-68 with 20.4 left.
 
The Warriors (17-11 overall) pressed on the inbounds and fouled when it got past halfcourt and Maguire Sweeney hit both free throws. The Warriors called timeout with 6.1 seconds left after crossing halfcourt, setting up the final shot, which fell off the rim after a good luck.
 
Four Warriors finished in double figures and two recorded double-doubles. Junior Dyson Harward (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) recorded his school-record 17^th double-double of the season, posting 16 points and 12 rebounds and Terry added 15 points and 10 rebounds to go with five assists. Junior DeAundre Manuel (Brooklyn, N.Y./KIPP NYC Prep) added a team-high 19 points and eight rebounds and sophomore Steven Hamilton (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville Area) added 12 points and five assists.
 
Stevens shot 46 percent (27-of-59) from the floor while Lycoming shot just 36 percent (24-of-66), but the Warriors stayed in the game, which had 10 lead changes and six ties, thanks to a 40-36 advantage on the glass against the MAC Freedom's best rebounding team and 18 offensive rebounds.
 
The Warriors took their first lead of the game a minute into the second half when Terry drilled a 3-pointer, setting up a period over the next eight minutes where there were four ties and four lead changes, with neither team leading by more than two points. A run of seven straight points from the Ducks put them ahead 51-45 with 9:02 to play, but sophomore Austin Loe (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville Area) responded with a deep 3-pointer that started a run of nine straight Warrior points that left the Warriors ahead 54-51 with 7:04 left.
 
Three more lead changes followed before a pair of free throws from Jack Spellman made it 62-58 with 3:23 left. The Warriors immediately responded, tying it at 62 with 2:33 left, then taking the lead on a second-chance 3-pointer from Hamilton with 1:44 left that made it 65-64. Spellman hit a layup with 1:06 left and then Coffey hit a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left to give Stevens a 69-65 lead. Manuel hit the back end of a pair of free throws, setting up Terry's play that cut it to a point seconds later.
 
Stevens took the first lead of the game with a layup nearly two minutes in and held that lead for the next 17 minutes, but the Warriors never let the Ducks lead by more than six points, at 22-16 with 9:03 left. The Warriors quickly worked that down to a point when Harward canned a 3-pointer with 6:44 left to make it 24-23, and Harward's second trifecta tied the game at 34 with 26 seconds left in the half, which is where the score stayed headed into the break.
 
The Warriors stayed close in the first period thanks to 16 second-chance points in the first half, grabbing 12 offensive rebounds in the period, 75 percent of Stevens' total output.
 
The Ducks were led by 21 points from Alec DiPietrantonio, who also added 10 rebounds. Spellman posted 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocks and Conor Coffey added 12 points and five rebounds.
 
Harward finished the season with 586 career rebounds, 15^th in program history, and his 313 rebounds this year are the eighth-best total in program history and the best since Ron Travis pulled in 334 in 1966. He also added 47 blocked shots, tied for seventh in program history.
 
Senior Matt Ilodigwe (Wilmington, Del./Concord) finished his career with 758 points, 138 assists, 182 rebounds and 178 career 3-pointers are seventh in program history.
 
The Warriors reached their third straight MAC Championship final, also appearing in the MAC Commonwealth Championship final in 2020, the MAC Freedom Championship final in 2021. Lycoming has appeared in seven conference championship finals in the past 11 years.
 
Five Warriors finished the season scoring in double-figures (Harwood, 13.1; Hamilton, 12.8; Terry, 11.3; Ilodigwe, 10.5; and Manuel, 10.4) and the team beat two teams listed in the latest NCAA Regional rankings (Susquehanna, DeSales) while also playing three games against nationally-ranked teams and eighth against regionally-ranked teams, one of the toughest schedules in program history.