Lycoming Takes MAC Commonwealth Lead In Home Win
Senior Jonathan Boyd's four of nine shooting from three-point land was not enough Saturday against Lycoming.

Williamsport, PA — With outright first-place honors in the MAC Commonwealth Conference up for grabs, it was Lycoming College that found the shooting touch in its own building Wednesday night, knocking off Messiah College by a 75-53 score in men’s basketball action.

Lycoming (14-8, 5-2) buried 51 percent of its total shots including a nine of 15 performance (60 percent) from three-point land in avenging a 79-68 loss at Messiah on Jan. 30, taking — for the moment, anyway — sole control of the MAC Commonwealth league standings. Entering Wednesday’s contest, Lycoming and Messiah (15-7, 4-3) shared the league’s top slot with identical 4-2 conference records. Following an impressive Wednesday performance from the Warriors, however, it was Lycoming that was able to separate itself ever so slightly, as Messiah dropped into a three-way tie for second with three regular-season games remaining.

“Tonight was a night where Lycoming shot the ball extremely well and we simply did not,” said Rick Van Pelt, Messiah head coach. “They are a very good team that defended us very well tonight, and we struggled to get anything going.”

It did not take long for momentum to swing in the hosts' favor Wednesday, as Lycoming buried one of six first-half three pointers just 20 seconds into play to take a 3-0 lead. A Warriors’ layup just 43 seconds later made it a 5-0 lead, while senior Darryl Brown scored his only basket of the night to make it a 5-2 game with 15:54 to play.

Lycoming responded with a seven to nothing run over the game’s next two and a half minutes to claim a 12-4 lead, however, and Messiah would be playing catch-up for the remainder. A three-pointer from senior Jonathan Boyd and a layup from junior Jason Miller cut the gap to 12-9, but a jumper from Lycoming’s Kevin Morris would push the Warriors’ advantage to 14-9 with 11:10 to play in the half.

Seemingly mundane at the moment, Morris’ basket would be the first of 10 field goals for the 6-5 guard, as Lycoming’s second-leading scorer would explode for a career-high 30 points and eight rebounds, an effort that was good enough to keep the Falcons at bay for the rest of the night. Junior Drew Sneeringer responded with a layup following Morris’ first bucket to pull Messiah within a 14-11 deficit, but a long three ball from Morris on the Warriors’ ensuing trip made the score 17-11, Lycoming, with 10:21 to play in the half.

Following a three-minute stretch where Messiah kept things very close — Lycoming led by just an 18-15 score with 7:35 to play —  it was Morris that spear-headed a 16 to four Warrriors’ push over the game’s next six minutes, scoring nine points to help his team to a 34-19 lead with just 1:16 remaining in the half.

The difference was 38-22 at the break, while Lycoming had connected on 15 of 26 total shots (57.7 percent) while making six of 10 from long range.

“On the way home tonight, we figured out about 50 different things we should have done (to slow Morris down),” Van Pelt said. “But he’s a very crafty player. He’s kind of a Larry Bird-type in that he can shoot the three and put the ball on the floor as well. We had about three different guys on him at various points, but we didn’t help off of some other guys like we should have.”

Morris scored 14 of his points in the game’s first 20 minutes, while — following a layup from Miller to start the second half — he buried yet another three to open Lycoming’s second-period scoring. The Falcons were able to trim the Warriors lead to just eight points — 46-38 — following a triple from sophomore Jamie Yoder at the 11:35 mark, but a pair of free throws from Morris on Lycoming’s next trip regained a 10-point advantage.

A three-ball from Morris offset one of four trifectas from Boyd at the game’s 8:29 mark, and Lycoming possessed a 56-42 lead. Messiah would get no closer than 11 points down the stretch, with the final spread equaling the Warriors’ largest lead of the game.

Boyd paced Messiah’s scoring efforts, equaling a career-high 14 points for the fourth time of the year. He made four of nine shots from three-point land. Miller added nine points and six rebounds, while Sneeringer and sophomore Josh Curtin each scored eight.

On the night, Messiah connected on just 18 of 57 total shots (31.6 percent), the squad’s second-lowest shooting percentage of the season and worst of the conference slate. Contrastly, Lycoming’s 51.0 percent shooting effort was the second-highest efficiency given up by the Falcons in league play.

Wednesday’s loss snapped an impressive two-game winning streak for Messiah, while Morris' night was the second straight individual 30-point performance allowed by the Falcons (Elizabethtown College's Mike Schatzmann scored 30 in a losing effort Saturday).

“We just were not as sharp or as crisp tonight as we have been recently,” Van Pelt said.

The Falcons will now look to split the season series with Widener University next, as the Pride will visit Brubaker Auditorium Saturday afternoon. That game reeks of importance within the MAC Commonwealth standings, as Messiah, Widener and Albright College all possess 4-3 league records heading into the weekend. Game time is set for 4 p.m.