WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Seniors Steven Hamilton (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville Area) and Brendon Blackson (Laurel, Md./Laurel) combined for 37 points and seven 3-pointers as the Lycoming College men's basketball team scored nearly half of its points from behind-the-arc as it won its first Landmark Conference game, 86-81, over Elizabethtown College on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 2, at Lamade Gym.
 
The Warriors (4-3 overall, 1-1 Landmark) hit 14-of-30 (47 percent) from 3-point range to outpace the Blue Jays (2-5 overall, 0-2 Landmark), who shot just 37 percent from the floor (27-of-73) and hit just seven 3-pointers.
 
Hamilton led the Warriors with 19 points, seven assists, five rebounds and two blocks, as he crossed 800 career points with his seventh of the game, and Blackson added a career-high 18 points to go with six rebounds and two assists, while fellow sophomore guard Isaiah Valentine (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg) added 15 points and seven rebounds.
 
First-year Hayden Pardoe (Mill Hall, Pa./Central Mountain) posted nine points, six rebounds and three blocks, senior Mavin James (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) added seven points, seven rebounds and two assists and sophomore J.J. Beagle (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport Area) added seven points and nine rebounds. Junior Ivan Komitski (Sofia, Bulgaria/Lee Academy) dropped in a pair of 3-pointers.
 
The Warriors maintained a double-digit lead for much of the first eight minutes of the second half, but Elizabethtown was able to close within six with 11:51 left before the Warriors doubled that lead back to 12 off a 3-pointer from Pardoe with 8:37 left and the stayed between three and four possessions until there was 2:48 left when Austin Finarelli hit a 3-pointer to make it 79-74, but that was as close as the Blue Jays could get in the final moments.
 
A 3-pointer from Blackson four minutes into the game gave Lycoming an 8-6 lead, one they maintained for the rest of the game, while the bucket opened up a 16-5 run that ended with a second chance layup by Pardoe to make it 21-11 with 11:51 left in the half. The Blue Jays cut that lead down to a point with 5:58 left, but the Warriors responded with a Hamilton trifecta and led by 11 at the half thank to a 16-6 run in those final six minutes.
 
Finarelli led the Blue Jays with 21 points and four steals. Niko Georgelis had 12 points and five rebounds, MJ Branker added 11 points and five rebounds and Dylan Rowe posted nine points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Warriors are back on the court on Wednesday, Dec. 6, when they host Wilkes University in another Landmark Conference clash at 7 p.m., in Lamade Gym.