1/22/08
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa.—Lycoming’s men’s basketball team (9-6, 1-0) upset Commonwealth Conference foe Elizabethtown (13-2, 0-1) by a score of 79-78 on Tuesday in a thrilling overtime victory. The Blue Jays were ranked #25 in the nation by D3hoops.com prior to the game. It was the first conference challenge of the season for both teams
Elizabethtown displayed top-25 talent in the first half, passing crisply and scoring from inside and outside. The Blue Jays led 44-29 going into the break, thanks largely to Mike Schatzmann’s 21 first-half points. Schatzmann would finish the game with 36 points, but he watched his team’s lead deteriorate to a 59-59 tie with 5:36 remaining in regulation.
Lycoming took its first lead of the game, 64-63, at 3:32 on a Kevin Morris (Camp Hill, Pa.) three-pointer. Morris hit six threes in the game on his way to a team-leading 28 points. The lead changed hands a few times with both teams hitting their foul shots. But an Eric Anthony (Wheeling, W.V.) three with just 17 seconds left in regulation knotted the tally at 69 and sent the contest into overtime.
Anthony hit another three in the overtime period, while sophomore Greg Sye (Chantilly, Va.) made three of four foul shots down the stretch to seal the win. Sye scored 18 points for the game and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the year.
Anthony recorded 17 points and hit three three-pointers for Lycoming, while Jemayne Nowlin’s (Gaithersburg, Md.) quick hands and determined defense kept Elizabethtown on its heels throughout the game.
Prior to tonight's win, the Warriors were coming off of a tough loss to nationally-ranked Carnegie Mellon on Jan. 9 and a quality win at Cabrini on Jan. 13. At the beginning of the month, Lycoming won the Scranton Tournament, defeating Wesley and then a solid Scranton team in the championship game.
The Warriors travel next to Widener, a team that resides in the “others receiving votes” category of D3hoops’ national rankings. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26 at Schwartz Athletic Center.